DOH engineer says Wellsburg Bridge likely to open in late spring 2023

WELLSBURG, W.Va. — Originally set to open this fall, residents in the Brooke County area will have to wait a more few months before using the highly anticipated Wellsburg Bridge.

Tony Clark, the West Virginia Division of Highways (DOH) District 6 Engineer recently updated MetroNews on where things stand with the $131 million project. The work on the Wellsburg Bridge began in 2019 when the bridge, that connects Wellsburg to Brillant, Ohio, was built on the shoreline of the West Virginia side of the Ohio River.

“The contractor, Flatiron Construction, had hoped to be getting it open this fall. Due to various delays on the project, they were not able to make it happen,” Clark said.

Clark said weather played a factor into the timeline of the project. He hopes it can open in late spring 2023. Clark said part of the finishing touches on the bridge cannot be done while temperatures are below freezing and if it could be done, it would have been open by now.

“They’ve got some paving work to do on both sides, they have to tension the cables in the arch and pour concrete for the parapet walls,” Clark said of certain tasks left to do while it’s warm.

The project is what officials have called an ‘engineering marvel.’ The 830-foot main span of the bridge was floated down the Ohio River and lifted onto its pilings in April 2021. The historic float, West Virginia’s first alternative delivery project, followed the construction of the span by Flatiron Construction along the banks of the Ohio River.

As part of the project, West Virginia Route 2 is expected to become three lanes for a stretch around the bridge.

The project is a collaboration between the DOH and the Ohio Department of Transportation, Clark said, but the contract is handled through the DOH.

The Wellsburg Bridge idea was pushed for years, according to Clark, and was a dream of former Wellsburg Mayor Sue Simonetti who passed away on March 31, 2021.

Currently, motorists in a passenger vehicle traveling along West Virginia Route 2 or Ohio Route 7 can cross the Ohio River between Ohio and West Virginia on the Fort Henry Bridge in Wheeling or the Market Street Bridge, north of Follansbee and into Steubenville, Ohio. The distance between those two bridges is roughly 25 miles.





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