WHEELING, W.Va. — Road construction has been the hot button issue in the Wheeling area in recent weeks and will continue to be for quite some time.
That’s why Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott is preaching patience to citizens during the $215 million Interstate-70 Bridges Project in Ohio County that is expected to take up to two years.
“Sometimes people in Wheeling take for granted that you can get anywhere in town in 10 minutes,” Elliott told MetroNews. “That reality is being challenged now by the simple fact that we are having a lot of work done on a lot of different roads. Some folks are getting frustrated and I try to tell people all the time you have to be patient.
“You can’t complain about the quality of the roads and then complain when they are getting fixed.”
New traffic patterns were seen on I-70 Wednesday as Phase I of the project officially got underway, which is expected to take 18 months. Traffic was diverted by Swank Construction from I-70 westbound traffic onto I-70 eastbound, from the Marion Street exit in Bridgeport, Ohio to the Wheeling Tunnel.
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More than two dozens bridges stretching from Ohio County’s border with Ohio to its border with Pennsylvania on I-70 will either have deck replacements or a full-on bridge replacement. A couple of bridges east of the Wheeling Tunnel, that were finished in the late 1960s, will be completely rebuilt, meaning routes will be fully closed down.
“I try to remind folks at the end of the day we are going to have a completely rebuilt highway going through the city to Wheeling,” Elliott said.
“That is something we have been waiting for, for a very long time. If we can get through this period now, I do think it’s going to be a very good outcome in the end.”
Elliott did admit he is nervous about the timing of the projects all at once, that includes separate work on Interstate-470 and in downtown Wheeling, and worried about the potential of traffic backup near Wheeling Hospital that sits right along I-70.
He said he hopes the West Virginia Division of Highways does everything in its power to minimize the impact and to keep traffic moving.
“We have recently gone down to one emergency room in the city,” he said. “It’s centrally located right off the interstate and I do worry if we have backups around there that first responder vehicles can’t get to and from the emergency room. That’s a concern.”
Currently, the work that started near the Fort Henry Bridge west of the Wheeling Tunnel is down to two lanes, one each way, and the speed limit is 35 mph.
Wheeling Police Department said motorists are advised to be alert for changing traffic patterns and expect delays. Any questions or concerns regarding the project can be directed to Wheeling PD’s hotline at 304-810-3214 or by visiting www.i70forward.com.
The estimated finish for the entire project is late 2022.