State’s Busiest Bridge Slated For Major Repairs

The Fort Hill Bridge carries approximately 100,000 vehicles each day along the Interstate 64 corridor through Charleston, according to Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s office.

Thursday Morrisey announced the state Department of Transportation (DOT) has awarded a $75 million contract to West Virginia-based Triton Construction. The project includes complete replacement of the bridge deck and barrier walls on the main span and four access ramps, structural steel repairs to the bridge’s arch, and restoration of the concrete piers.

The governor said it is part of a larger effort to improve the state’s infrastructure to ensure growth.

“When I came in, we were rated F in all the bridges. We knew it’s a really big problem, and so we’ve been making it a really significant initiative within my administration, to no longer have failing grades,” he said. “We’re working on it. We’re not there yet. I said it was going to be a four-year program, and it is.”

West Virginia’s bridges received a D rating on the 2025 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, published by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Morrisey said the Fort Hill project is a signal of how seriously his administration takes having safe bridges for all West Virginians. He directed WVDOT Secretary Todd Rumbaugh to conduct a comprehensive review of all 7,000 bridges in West Virginia to identify future maintenance needs and prioritize long-term investments.

“I want to note this isn’t just about one bridge in Kanawha County. We want the same momentum in every county, and there’s a reason why we have DOT conducting a comprehensive review of all the bridges across West Virginia,” Morrisey said. “We have to be proactive. We have to stay ahead of maintenance and never let our state fall behind to the F levels that we were when I took over a year and a half ago.”

A 2022 analysis of the state’s bridges, based on National Bridge Inventory data, showed that 7 percent of all bridges in the U.S. received a poor rating. West Virginia has the highest poor rate in the country, with more than 20 percent of the state’s bridges considered structurally deficient or in poor condition.

Preliminary work on the Fort Hill Bridge, including construction of median crossovers, will begin this fall using off-peak and nighttime hours to avoid traffic disruptions during the winter holiday shopping season. Major traffic shifts are expected to begin in early 2027.