Parkersburg-Belpre railroad bridge owner plans repair of crack in pier

PARKERSBURG -- A large crack on one of the piers supporting the Sixth Street Railroad Bridge between downtown Parkersburg and Belpre does not pose a safety issue and will be repaired soon, a spokeswoman for the company that owns it said Monday.

"Belpre Industrial Parkersburg has been monitoring the development of the crack and engaged an engineering firm four weeks ago to inspect and formulate the repair," a representative of Belpre Industrial Parkersburg Railroad said. "The bridge is in compliance (with federal regulations) and does not pose a structural risk."

Photos of the crack on the stone pier near the Belpre side of the river were shared on Facebook over the weekend. Belpre Mayor Mike Lorentz said the city started receiving calls about it Monday.

The BIP spokeswoman said the expectation is that repairs will be completed "within the next couple of weeks."

"It will be banded and repaired as soon as the engineering and obtaining the materials are complete," she said.

In the meantime, the crack will continue to be monitored, she said. The bridge remains open to rail traffic, and a train was seen traveling across it Monday afternoon.

Lorentz said he trusts BIP to do what's right.

There had been a crack on the pier for some time, the spokeswoman said. It was not immediately clear what caused it to get larger recently.

The bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places as the Sixth Street Railroad Bridge in the early 1980s. With 53 piers stretching from Avery Street in downtown Parkersburg across the Ohio River and into Belpre, it was the longest bridge of its type in the world when it was built between 1869 and 1871.

The steel structure was rebuilt around 1914 to 1917, the National Register form said. One span was rebuilt in 1972.