SCDOT updates residents on Wando Bridge repairs
On Jan. 25, the South Carolina Department of Transportation announced a plan to reinforce the I-526 bridge spanning the Wando River over the course of the next 15 months. This message comes seven months after the structure, known officially as the James B. Edwards Bridge, encountered an emergency shutdown in May 2018 after a snapped cable was discovered on the westbound span.
“Safety remains our top priority,” SCDOT Deputy Secretary for Engineering Leland Colvin assured residents. “We still plan to do continued inspection and maintenance to this bridge. This bridge is safe and we intend to keep it safe.”
SCDOT described a rigorous series of tasks that they undertook to ensure the bridge is in working order. In addition to replacing the broken cable and adding two supplementary cables to the westbound bridge, the organization added a monitoring system that will alert officials in the event of another snapped cable.
“This consists of both microphones as well as cameras in both the main spans of the eastbound and westbound bridge. These provide real-time monitoring for SCDOT,” explained Colvin. “If an entire cable were to snap, we would pick that up through the microphones and that would actually send out a text to our structural engineers both here in Charleston, as well as Columbia. We’ve got protocols in place if something like that were to happen.”
SCDOT also performs daily walkthroughs of the bridge’s interior to inspect cables for potential deterioration. Additionally, they plan to replace the joints on the eastbound and westbound bridges, and will apply a corrosion inhibitor to the cable anchor covers.
“We anticipate starting this work this spring, go through spring of 2020 before we get all these items completed,” said the deputy secretary. “Of course, with any construction project, we will have some nighttime lane closures that will have very minimal impact on traffic.”
Colvin added that there will be two weekends in the fall that will require a “traffic shift,” but no dates have been set.
After a ruptured tendon on the westbound bridge was found in September 2016, SCDOT ordered a 24-month study that recently concluded. The findings lead to 14 recommendations, which Colvin stated will be completed in the next 15 months. The majority of the advised courses of action ask for further inspections and actions to be taken to prevent future corrosion.
For three weeks in May, the Wando Bridge’s surprise closure caused frustration for many residents on Daniel Island, as well as others in the Charleston region. The Don Holt Bridge and Clements Ferry Road became even busier thoroughfares and, because of the congestion and the island’s remote location, water taxis became a popular alternative for some residents.
Last week, the bridge over Beresford Creek on Daniel Island Drive was closed after deterioration was found on one of the beams on the structure’s southern end during a routine inspection. After a two-inch steel plate was ordered and received by the City of Charleston, repairs were made and the bridge re-opened to non-truck traffic on Thursday.