Wheeling Suspension Bridge

Brayman Construction Corp. (BCC) was subcontracted by Advantage Steel and Construction, LLC to perform a repair procedure involving a new anchorage system to to attach the suspension cable at one corner of the Wheeling Suspension Bridge. The Wheeling Suspension Bridge is a historic suspension bridge in Wheeling West Virginia. It was originally built in 1849 and was the first bridge to span the Ohio River. It was Registered as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1975.  

Brayman's work involved drilling a 30” diameter hole in the floor of the existing vault to install an 83’ x 13,000 LB beam vertically. This beam would then be anchored by two rock anchors. The suspension cables would then be moved to the new beam to support the bridge.

The existing vault, built of the original cut stone, was carefully disassembled to allow for it to be reassembled after the new anchor was installed. The 30” hole was drilled starting at the bottom of the vault approximately 8’ below the street level. A steel casing pipe was bolted to the bottom of the vault, large enough for the drill tooling to pass through to protect the existing cables supporting the bridge during the drilling operations. The hole was drilled using a segmental casing to keep the hole open while drilling in the sandy soil near the river. The casing was advanced to approximately 72’ below the bottom of the vault. The 83’ W 12 x 152 pile, with the necessary fabrication to accept the rock anchors and attach the suspension cables, was placed into the open shaft. Alignment of the beam was set to assure acceptance of the new cables. The concrete was then poured, and the segmental pipe was removed.

After the concrete had cured the two rock anchors were drilled through the fabricated pockets in the beam at 28- and 29-degree angles. The anchors were required to be installed 35’ into rock. A 7” diameter casing was advanced the approximately 200’ bond zone to reach the rock where the 35’ hole was drilled. A nine-strand anchor was installed into the hole through sandy soil.

After the anchors were grouted and cured, concrete was formed and placed between the rear face of the beam and the existing vault wall to allow the anchors to be stressed against the vault wall. The anchors were then stressed to 133% of the design load and then locked off at the design load of 296 Kips.

Advantage Steel was then able to attach the new cables supporting the bridge to the newly installed anchor beam. Then the original historic stone was reinstalled to cover the vault.

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