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| CHARLESTON, WV – The West Virginia Division of Highways has hired a contractor to correct the worst of several dips on US 35 in Putnam County. The four-lane upgrade of US 34 from Interstate 64 near Nitro to the Ohio state line opened to traffic in November 2021, replacing a dangerous two-lane road with a modern controlled access highway. The final, $257 million phase of the project included 10 new bridges and a new interchange at WV 869. But in the five years since the final section opened, natural settling has created several dips in the road. The dips have mostly occurred where the natural slope of the mountains meets fill material, causing part of the roadway to subside. WVDOH engineers have identified eight dips on US 35 for attention. Contractors are currently working on the two worst slips to reduce the depth of the slips or eliminate them altogether. The process is the same contractors used last July to raise the approach slabs to the bridge on Interstate 64 over US 25, between the Nitro and St. Albans exits. |
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| It’s a lengthy process measured in fractions of inches at a time. Contractors bore holes in the road surface and inject an expanding foam under the road surface to slowly raise the roadway, tiny increments at a time. Contractors are expected to be finished raising the dips within the next two weeks. The success of the process on the two worst dips will help determine whether the technique will be used on the rest of them. |
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