zNewsletter Sunday

Mayor ‘Not Surprised’ If WVDOH Closes Suspension Bridge

WHEELING - Officials at the West Virginia Division of Transportation are keeping Wheeling residents in suspense about the future of the Wheeling Suspension Bridge, but local officials have feared that its days of accommodating motor vehicles have reached the end of the road.

With the next chapter of the Wheeling Suspension Bridge at a crossroads, hints have been circulating that the historic span will not reopen to vehicular traffic - even after the state’s nearly $18 million rehabilitation is complete.

This past week, WVDOT Transportation Secretary Jimmy Wriston said during an on-camera interview with WTOV that days of vehicular traffic on the Suspension Bridge have "probably passed," although no official announcement has been made by state officials.

The Wheeling Suspension Bridge has remained closed to vehicular traffic since an oversized vehicle damaged the span in September of 2019.

On Friday, Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott said he has heard through the grapevine that the state will not likely reopen the bridge between downtown Wheeling and Wheeling Island to vehicles again.

"I have heard indirectly -- but not from anyone at WVDOT -- that a decision has been made to keep the Suspension Bridge closed to vehicular traffic permanently," Elliott said on Friday, noting that Wriston’s comments this past week would "certainly seem to support" these reports about the bridge’s future.

"Several years ago, in a detailed letter, I urged then-WVDOT Secretary Byrd White to consider a plan for vehicular traffic on the bridge that would include physical barriers and design elements to prevent large vehicles from gaining access," Elliott said. "The response I received was basically a complete dismissal of each of my suggestions. And so I am not surprised to see WVDOT moving towards closure."

Structural concerns on the historic bridge led to its closure on a number of occasions in recent years before its closure in 2019. Oversized vehicles like commercial buses have made their way past hanging barriers and onto the bridge, causing temporary closures and inspections in the past.

Construction crews hired by the state have been finishing 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, 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 last summer, but additional work and some supply chain issues reportedly caused delays. State officials have never officially stated whether or not the bridge will again reopen to vehicular traffic in the future once the project is completed - but many assume that this decision has already been made, but has simply not been announced to the public yet.

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 as an important piece of the city's - and the nation's - history.

"At the end of the day, what is most important for Wheeling is to see the Suspension Bridge standing for another 175 years," the mayor said. "I have felt that the best way to do so was to keep it eligible for WVDOT funding by virtue of being a roadway instead of just a monument - as West Virginia’s budget for monuments is dramatically lower than its budget for roads.

"But hopefully a plan can be put in place that ensures that this bridge will have full access to WVDOT funds for the future."

The city - with the help of a contribution from the Fitzsimmons Family - has begun a multi-phased construction of a new park on the Wheeling Island end of the Suspension Bridge to be known as Gateway Park. At the downtown end, the Wheeling-Ohio County Convention and Visitors Bureau acquired the former Wheeling Inn hotel with plans of razing and removing the building.

Demolition of the Wheeling Inn will make the Suspension Bridge much more visible in the upper end of downtown. The CVB has joined with other agencies to put together a plan to repurpose the property with the iconic bridge in mind. A new Gateway Center is being eyed, and proposals have included a new state welcome center at the site.

As the state is already investing nearly $18 million on the Suspension Bridge alone with the current rehabilitation project, city officials noted that future maintenance costs of the historic span cannot be absorbed by the city if the structure is basically decommissioned as a state-owned road and deemed an historic landmark.

"It is too big and too complicated of an edifice for the city of Wheeling to be responsible for going forward," Elliott said.

Representatives of the WVDOH could not be reached for comment about the Suspension Bridge’s future on Friday. Late last month, when asked about the status of the ongoing construction on the Wheeling Suspension Bridge, WVDOH Transportation Public Information Specialist Jake Flatley did not respond to questions about the future of vehicular traffic on the span. However, he indicated that work was finally wrapping up on the rehabilitation project.

"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."