Repairs To Market St. Bridge In Wheeling To Cost $1.35 Million

WHEELING - The homeless encampment fire that damaged the Market Street Bridge in Wheeling will not only keep a primary traffic artery in the city out of service for what will end up being two years but will also cost taxpayers more than $1.35 million to repair.

Last week, Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron announced that the contractor hired to fix the bridge had contacted his office. The West Virginia Division of Highways reportedly awarded a bid for the work to Charles J. Merlo Inc. of Mineral Point, Pennsylvania.

Officials from the WVDOH subsequently confirmed that Merlo Construction had been awarded the contract. Market Street is part of W.Va. Route 2, which falls in the jurisdiction of the state.

"The Market Street Bridge project in Wheeling was awarded to the successful bidder, Charles J. Merlo, Inc., on Dec. 1, 2023, in the amount of $1,351,000," said Jake Flatley, Transportation Public Information Specialist for the West Virginia Department of Transportation’s Public Relations Division, speaking on behalf of WVDOH Regional Construction Engineer Michael Witherow.

A detour around the bridge has been in place long before the Downtown Streetscape Project turned downtown Wheeling into a sprawling construction zone, currently with two other sections of Market Street closed to traffic. The Market Street Bridge has been closed to vehicular traffic since June 7, 2022, after a fire at a homeless encampment under the bridge damaged the span over Wheeling Creek.

It was later determined through inspections that the entire bridge deck would need to be replaced. This past summer, city leaders announced that the state had completed the design and engineering phase of the Market Street Bridge repair.

"The project is a bridge renovation including a bridge deck replacement with a project completion date of Summer 2024," Flatley said.

While the bridge has been closed to vehicular traffic, it has remained open to pedestrians traversing between downtown and Center Wheeling.

Officials indicated that Merlo is expected to begin construction on the bridge renovation this winter in January or February and be completed sometime in late July or early August.

The WVDOH is also expected to continue work on the $32 million Downtown Streetscape Project through the summer of 2025. The major downtown overhaul is bringing new curbs, sidewalks, street surfaces, traffic lights, stormwater management systems, cosmetic enhancements and other improvements to the heart of Wheeling along Main and Market streets, as well as its connecting streets in the downtown area.

Construction crews for the state are also finishing work on the rehabilitation of the historic Suspension Bridge, which has remained closed to vehicular traffic since an oversized vehicle damaged the span in September of 2019. The state awarded a bid in the amount of $17,907,147 to Advantage Steel & Construction LLC of Butler County, Pa., in 2021 to make necessary repairs to the bridge’s superstructure and substructure, replacing damaged suspension cables, cleaning, painting and renovating the lighting on the span.

The renovation was originally scheduled to be completed this past summer, but additional work and some supply chain issues reportedly caused delays. State officials have still not announced whether or not the bridge will again reopen to vehicular traffic in the future once the project is completed.

"As the Wheeling Suspension Bridge remains under construction, WVDOH remains committed to preserving the historic nature of the structure," Flatley said. "Currently, the contractor is finishing up a lighting project on the landmark."

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 in 2024 it will mark its 175th anniversary as an important piece of the city’s - and the nation’s - history.