For the second time in the last 10 years, officials with the West Virginia Division of Highways have scheduled the demolition of the Aetnaville Bridge, a 132-year-old span that once connected the north end of Wheeling Island with the northern edge of Bridgeport and the southern tip of Martins Ferry.
The bridge, closed to vehicular traffic since 1988, was initially fenced off in 2015 after it was deemed a public hazard, but vandals repeatedly have removed the barriers for thruway foot traffic. According to Charlie Reynolds, chief engineer for District 6-DOH, the Aetnaville span’s superstructure will be dismantled beginning on July 28, 2025.
The price tag for the demolition is estimated to be $2.5 million. In November 2014, the same plan removal was projected to cost $800,000.
“We’ve decided that it’s time to remove the span for the sake of public safety,” Reynolds said. “There have been plans in the past but then projects like Interstate 70 and the Wheeling Suspension Bridge took precedence, but now it’s time to finally remove this structure so we can remove the risk. It’s been in place for too long.
“We have received reports about it being a hazard for those who cross it and those who fish and boat under it,” he said. “We can’t have falling debris and we can’t have people walking across it when the structural integrity continues to erode. So, we’re going to remove the steel structure and determine what happens with the piers after that.”
The Aetnaville Bridge is a “Pennsylvania Through Truss” span that measures 1,043 feet. The roadway is 18 feet wide, and the piers are made of locally sourced sandstone. Initially used for interurbans, or streetcars, but was converted into a toll bridge for automobiles.
Reynolds said the project will be go out to bid in the near future, and that it most likely will be a piece-by-piece removal instead of the span being dropped into the back channel of the Ohio River. The bridge rests north of the Wheeling Island Marina so restrictions, Reynolds said, would be put into place during portions of the demolition project.
“That bridge has been sitting there for a lot of years, so we know right now that we’re going to take every safety precaution to keep every as safe as possible,” the former state lawmaker said. “That’s why the fencing was put into place and why the vandalism has been repaired a couple of times. It is not a safe structure and that’s why the decision has been made to bring it down.
“I know there have been discussions about what happens to the piers after the bridge is gone, and that discussion can begin again. I know a biking and walking bridge was a topic in the past,” Reynolds added. “I don’t know right now what’s possible, but I would love to hear everyone’s ideas so we can find out.”
