Charleston City Council's Planning Committee voted unanimously on Monday to allow a bridge over Brooks Street that will connect to Charleston Area Medical Center General Hospital.
The hospital filed a resolution asking that it be granted air rights over that street to construct an enclosed utility line carrying steam to the hospital.
City Planning Director Dan Vriendt said the existing underground utilities beneath Brooks Street make that task "impossible, if not impractical."
Unlike most requests, which usually go through the Municipal Planning Commission prior to Planning Committee, the resolution went directly before the latter, Vriendt said.
"There's no statutory requirement that requires it to go before the Municipal Planning [Commission]," he said.
The hospital's project managers had been "working with traffic engineers...and didn't realize they needed to go to City Council and get an aerial easement, so we're trying to work with them and expedite the process," Vriendt said.
The resolution was amended during Monday's meeting to reflect accurate dimensions for the bridge.
The base for the enclosed steam line will be 21 feet and four inches above the street, with a maximum height of 32 feet and four inches. The bridge will be eight feet wide, according to the resolution.
It will not be accessible to pedestrians.
Erica Thomas, project manager at CAMC General Hospital, explained why the steam utility line is necessary.
The hospital's boilers use the steam that is generated from an incinerator located across the street for heating, sterilization and other uses, Thomas said.
"We have an underground line right now, but it's very volatile because it's old, and [near] the [joined] sanitary sewer system," she said.
When the combined sewer overflow from heavy rain causes flooding, it affects the steam line.
"Our steam line is in that tunnel. If you cool steam, you instantly lose it and it goes back to water," Thomas said. "We have leaks a lot, and it's come to a very critical point where we have to eliminate that risk."
The utility bridge will have a leak detection system and use perma-pipe, or pre-insulated piping systems, she added.
Any pressure concerns or related issues would be quickly detectable, said Michael Browning, director of capital projects for the hospital.
"We have valves that go back to the control room; it's all digital, so they have operators in the building that are watching 24/7," he said.
Thomas said the project has received approval from the West Virginia Division of Highways.
Because it would be erected across Brooks Street near the Interstate 64 entrance ramp, Thomas said the project plans also provide for steel reinforcements that could hold signs or murals for special events in the future.
Hospital planners hope to see work begin on the bridge as early as mid-June.
Browning said Brooks Street will be closed for three days while crews erect the steel to support the line.
The resolution now goes before Finance Committee during its next meeting on June 6 before it moves to Council for a final vote.
Reach Elaina Sauber at elaina.sauber@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-3051 or follow @ElainaSauber on Twitter.