Fisher’s Bridge open

Fisher’s Ford Bridge on Route 9 West reopened on Thursday afternoon, May 24 after eight months of reconstruction work. The bridge, which is located north of Largent, received a new concrete deck and railing along with new steel beams and end abutments.

The bridge reconstruction wrapped up a week early, went very smoothly and came in under budget, said Jim Golden of the West Virginia Department of Transportation.

The projected completion date was May 30, 2012. The original project cost was estimated at around $2.5 million, but the actual cost was just a little over $2 million, Golden said.

Part of the project work involved dismantling and removing the old Fisher Ford Truss Bridge, which occurred last June.

They will be pulling out the temporary bridge which was installed at the old truss bridge location, over which traffic was rerouted through a 1.2 mile detour during the bridge work. A fisherman’s access will be put in by the temporary bridge site, he said.