Councilman: Lack of Communication with DOH ‘Frustrating’
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WHEELING - Councilman Ben Seidler expressed his disappointment Tuesday night not only about the "hint" state officials recently gave about the future of the historic Wheeling Suspension Bridge but also about the apparent lack of communication between the state and city leaders regarding such issues.
During Tuesday evening’s city council meeting, Seidler - the Ward 2 councilman who resides on Wheeling Island and represents the neighborhood - made note of the fact that West Virginia Transportation Secretary Jimmy Wriston last month stated in an on-camera interview that the days of vehicular traffic on the Suspension Bridge have "probably passed."
No official decision about the future of the landmark has been announced by the West Virginia Department of Transportation or the Division of Highways. However, city leaders have indicated they have learned indirectly that state officials have been leaning against reopening the bridge to motor vehicles once a major rehabilitation project is completed this summer.
"Obviously we all probably saw the news a week or so ago that the state has hinted on not opening the Suspension Bridge," Seidler told his fellow council members Tuesday night. "I just want to reiterate that it’s a critical link between Wheeling Island and the city."
Aside from the on-ramp and exit ramp from Interstate 70, the Suspension Bridge is the only direct connection between Wheeling Island and West Virginia, Seidler noted.
The Suspension Bridge has remained closed to vehicular traffic since an oversized vehicle damaged the span in September of 2019. Before that incident, structural concerns on the historic bridge led to temporary closures on a number of previous occasions in recent years. Oversized vehicles like commercial buses have made their way past hanging barriers and onto the bridge, causing temporary closures and inspections in the past.
For well over a year now, construction crews that were hired by the state have been completing work on the rehabilitation of the historic Suspension Bridge. The state awarded a bid in the amount of $17,907,147 to Advantage Steel & Construction LLC of Butler County, Pennsylvania, in 2021 to make necessary repairs to the bridge's superstructure and substructure and replace damaged suspension cables, along with cleaning, painting and renovating the lighting on the bridge.
The renovation was originally scheduled to be completed last summer, but additional work and some supply chain issues reportedly caused delays. Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron announced after a recent coordination meeting with the WVDOH on the Downtown Streetscape Project that the Suspension Bridge renovation project is now apparently expected to be completed in June of this year.
A number of recent attempts to get information from the WVDOH’s Public Relations Department about the status of the Suspension Bridge work have gone unanswered. Although the $32 million Streetscape project is a state project, the city of Wheeling has recently taken the lead on providing regular updates to the public regarding its progress, details about road closures and other important information, as city administrators meet with WVDOH project officials and their project contractors on a regular basis.
"On the topic of communication between the state and the city, we just continue to cry out that we would love some more communication from the state on these types of decisions and have some input on these decisions," Seidler said regarding news about the Suspension Bridge. "It’s very disappointing for me as a council member - and I’m assuming for us as a city - to find out about this on the news as opposed to some communication directed to us. That’s certainly frustrating. I would hope that the DOH would communicate better with us in the future."
New lights can be seen on the Wheeling Suspension Bridge. The historic span is undergoing a $17 million renovation funded by the West Virginia Division of Highways. (Photo by Eric Ayres)
With nearly $18 million being invested into the Suspension Bridge, city leaders hoped that the historic bridge would reopen to motorists. Some are holding out hope that at least limited local traffic or emergency vehicles may be able to use it, but others fear that the landmark’s use will be relegated to that of an expensive pedestrian bridge.
"While it may not be suitable for all of the vehicles there, it certainly is suitable for a number of vehicles there, and it’s important to the residents of Wheeling Island," Seidler said.
Original construction of the Wheeling Suspension Bridge began in 1847, and it opened 1849. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, and this year, it will mark its 175th anniversary.
Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott noted that several years ago, he sent a letter to then-WVDOT Secretary Byrd White asking him to consider a plan for vehicular traffic on the Suspension Bridge that would include physical barriers and design elements to prevent large vehicles from gaining access to it.
"The letter was responded to pretty tersely saying ‘no,’" said Elliott, who asked the city manager if he has heard directly from state officials about any decision on the Suspension Bridge’s future for vehicular traffic.
"They’ve not officially or unofficially said anything to me or my office," Herron said.
During Tuesday night’s meeting, Seidler asked the city manager to reach out to his contacts at the WVDOH to ask them to clean up areas beneath the interstate that have become neglected.
"Ask them to straighten up their property underneath the bridge on Zane Street as well as the back side of that on Front Street," Seidler requested. "It’s looking a little bit rough lately."
Despite the snags in communication, the state of West Virginia in recent years has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the Wheeling area’s roads and bridges. In addition to the Streetscape project and the Suspension Bridge rehabilitation, the state recently completed the $214 million Interstate 70 Bridges Project. The state just recently began the deck replacement of the Market Street Bridge between downtown and Center Wheeling, which has remained closed since a fire from a homeless encampment under the bridge caused significant damage to the structure.