MARSHALL COUNTY, W.Va. & BELMONT COUNTY, Ohio (WTRF) -- It's an old issue that is causing new problems and stress for one Ohio Valley community.
The Bellaire Bridge is still standing but each month that passes brings new concerns about its deteriorating structure.
The Bellaire Bridge was built in 1926 and was closed to traffic in 1991. Since then, there have been many questions surrounding who owns the bridge and who's responsible for its deteriorating structure.
When Ohio State Route 7 was built, the Ohio Department of Transportation closed the bridge due to its age and its need for a new ramp on the Ohio side of the river. At this time the Interstate Bridge Company owned it and was paid $2.7 million dollars by the Department of Transportation not to put a new ramp in.
A short time after, Roger Barack, an Ohio businessman accepted the bridge with some new plans.
”He had plans to build a ramp and reopen the bridge, and they paid him around $700,000 to take the bridge. And then ODOT refused him permits to build a new ramp across to Route 7. So, they kind of let the bridge in limbo.”
Chief Frank Longwell - Benwood Police Department, Benwood Public Safety Director
The ownership of the bridge then changed hands two more times with both new owners having plans to demolish it.
A federal lawsuit was filed in Ohio where the judge ruled that the bridge needed to come down, but the current owners failed to comply with the order.
After the last owner went bankrupt, the burden to bring the bridge down was put on the City of Benwood but Chief of Benwood Police, Frank Longwell, believes it is someone else's responsibility.
”We feel that the state of West Virginia plays a big part in this because West Virginia, Route 2 and 250, they spent millions of dollars to accommodate this bridge when they built West Virginia Route 2 But everybody's playing peekaboo and don't want to take any responsibility.”
Chief Frank Longwell - Benwood Police Department, Benwood Public Safety Director
Although the bridge stands over the City of Benwood, Director of Operations and Development, David McLaughlin believes none of the maintenance or demolition is their responsibility.
”To put the burden on the city or the county. It can't happen. The state or the federal government has to step in and do something. They need to remove that bridge, you know, quickly.”
David McLaughlin – Director of Operations and Development, City of Benwood
Chief Longwell shares why action needs to be taken quickly before the bridge impacts the town.
”We have all major utilities under that bridge, from gas lines to water lines to, you name it, CSX Railroad is under that bridge. And then that's the only entrance to our industrial park. If we'd have failure, that whole industrial park would have to be closed because there's no access. So you would look at loss of revenue and a lot of folks laid off.”
Chief Frank Longwell - Benwood Police Department, Benwood Public Safety Director
A demolition company from New York gave the city an estimate of $3 and a half million dollars to take the bridge down. They also received an estimate of what the cost would be for the state to take it down which they believe is an effort to avoid the demolition.
”They believe it's going to cost about $10.5 million to remove it. To me, I believe they overinflated the price because they don't want to do it.”
David McLaughlin – Director of Operations and Development, City of Benwood
As of now, the bridge remains standing, but with many questions on who should be responsible for the demolition of the bridge and actions that would need to be taken if the bridge were to collapse.
