Actually you have it a bit backwards.

Back in the 90's when opposition groups were opposed to Corridor-H they did everything in their power to block, hamper, restrict, and slow down the process. One of these things was that they had the Rudy House placed on the national historic register meaning no government agency can ever condem, touch, or remove that property. You will recognize the Rudy House as the white one tucked back into the side of the mountain as you go underneath the McCauley bridges and around the turn at Hanging Rock.

Well this was actually a major victory for the opposition groups because this forced engineers to move the location of the bridge. Previously the road would have came off of Pine Ridge in a long straight pattern only slightly curving to the right (when looking towards Baker) and having two bridges that were fairly straight and low. This also would have demolished Hanging Rock at McCauley too.

Anyway when the Rudy House was added to the historic registry engineers had already started aquiring land, permits, etc. So the design of the highway was so far into development that to halt the process over this now historic piece of property would have costed hundreds of millions. Rather what engineers did was create an 'S' turn in the road. When you come off of Pine Ridge now the road starts bearing to the left gradually for about 1.5-2 miles before arriving at the bridges. Then when you arrive at the bridge, you will immediately bear a hard right while on the bridges and continue bearing right after you get on land on the other side. So in affect the McCauley Bridges are the end result of engineers not saying "Wait we have a problem, the road needs to move or something but we shouldn't continue at this rate."

Now... The bridge is so much on a curve itself that the 12' steel girders are made with bends in them. So much so that every girder going into place has a curvature/bend to it by design. But what was happening recently is the steel was having a tendency to bend more than it should after it was put in place. This was due in part to all the girders not being attached to one another so it was trying to roll itself into more of a curve. There was a fear back in Nov. that this could possibly cause a bridge collapse during construction.

For now though, work is very slow and tedious and it would surprise me if they started even getting the metal sheets and rebar in place to get ready for concrete before May. meaning it would be Dec 2005 at the EARLIEST before this section of highway will open.

Sorry folks, but blame high up politicians pushing a project along for the sake of having it without giving it complete thought. Namely Robert C Byrd.

One day I shall have his spot inthe senate and declare a national ski day.

In reality a 6' difference isn't that horrible. Just about any bridge in a curve on a high speed roadway has some super elevation in it. That means one side is higher than the other. So from the center of the bridge to the parapet wall (guardrail) it drops 3 feet. On a bridge that size, the lanes are most likely 12 feet wide, possibly 16, with an 8 foot shoulder. Worst case, that makes it a 3' drop in about 20'. The other lane raises the same amount. Significant but not really extreme. You drive on stuff like this all the time on interstates. Its just hard to see at speed. If it wasn't there you would have a lot harder time keeping you car on the road and they wouldn't drain very well.