The extensive “Roads to Prosperity,” three-year project provoked fear in the minds and hearts of local first-responder agencies and residents alike once Swank Construction was awarded the $215 million bid in August 2019 because it included rebuilding 24 bridges and ramps and replacing two spans completely along the 15-mile stretch of Interstate 70 in Ohio County.
It was billed as the largest such interstate project in the Northern Panhandle since the construction of I-70 and I-470, and it was labeled “disaster in waiting” because of the closures, altered traffic patterns, detours, and delays to the city’s one and only hospital after the closure of the Ohio Valley Medical Center.
“I think everyone thought it was going to be a complete mess that would last twice as long as what was planned,” recalled Ohio County Sheriff Tom Howard. “That was the thought I think because of what happened with the Wheeling Tunnel when that project lasted for years when it was supposed to be a few months long.
“Plus, the detours they had to use were one lane in a lot of areas, and the project got started close to winter, and all if would have taken was a two-car accident to shut it all down and back up cars and trucks for miles,” he said. “I don’t think anyone was very optimistic.”
The pessimistic included Wheeling Councilman Ben Seidler. The project began when Seidler was campaigning to represent Ward 2, an area that includes all of Wheeling Island, most of North Wheeling, and the Fulton and Glenwood Heights neighborhoods, all of which have been impacted the past two-plus years.
“I agreed with everyone who thought it was going to be a total disaster for the people who live on Wheeling Island because of the work that was scheduled on the Fort Henry Bridge at the same time they closed down the Suspension Bridge,” he said. “I will say that the people with the Division of Highways have been great to work with, and they have been very responsive to our concerns.
“The project really has had an impact on every area of Ward 2, and I have heard from a lot of my constituents because of it. The traffic and jackhammering in Fulton have been issues, and the detour through North Wheeling has been, too,” he explained. “And getting on and off the Island has been a challenge at times, too, but we all know it needed to take place.”
Daunting Deadlines
The Division of Highways communicated to the public through what officials referred to as “stakeholders,” a group of individuals that included Sheriff Howard and Del. Erikka Storch.
Those two also distributed the DOH’s construction schedule for four primary areas between the Fort Henry Bridge and Middle Creek Elementary, including the total placements of the eastbound and westbound “Fulton bridges.” The spans are situated just east of Wheeling Tunnel, and they are the longest of the six bridges in the area.
“When I saw that the construction company only had nine months to demolish and replace the westbound bridge, I immediately thought there was no way they could do it,” Howard admitted. “It wasn’t a re-decking like they did in most of the other areas, and I didn’t believe they could do it in that little amount of time. It just seemed like a really big project.
“But they did do it, and it even opened a week early, so I was very impressed with the crews with Swank,” he said. “And don’t forget that they made the deadline even after taking a couple of weeks off because of Covid. That’s why, when they started on the eastbound bridge with the same kind of deadline, I was confident they would make it, and they sure did by several weeks.”
As Legend Has It
When motorists are traveling I-70 westbound through Ohio County, they have to be in the right lane in Wheeling Tunnel to continue into the state of Ohio because that area shrinks to just one lane. It is one of only a few areas where I-70 has such limited access, and many have believed for decades that the Fort Henry Bridge was constructed backward back in the 1950s.
“That’s what I have heard my entire life,” Storch said. “That was the reason why the right lane went over the bridge, and the left lane was an exit for Main Street. I guess people thought it should have been the other way around.
“That bridge was built back in the 1950s, so I’m sure most of the workers have passed on by now,” she continued. “But the story I was told was that someone accidentally built it with the blueprints being upside down. Anyone who has worked with blueprints, though, knows that would be impossible to do because of the way blueprints have always been formatted.”
Tony Clark, the district engineer in District 6, had not heard the same while growing south of Wheeling in Wetzel County. To his eyes, in fact, “the bridge appears to fit just fine.”
“I don’t remember ever believing that it was installed backward,” Storch said with a laugh. “But who knows anymore. Back in the ‘50s, the whole interstate was a new thing so they could have messed up and let it go.”
Speed Racer
The vast majority of the drivers who have received citations or warnings from Ohio County deputies for speeding on I-70 have been licensed in Pennsylvania, according to the sheriff of Ohio County.
Since the beginning of the project, the speed limit in Ohio County has been reduced to 45 mph, and most of the tickets have been written to motorists for traveling faster than 80 mph. A few, however, Howard said, have involved frightening rates of speed.
“Why anyone needs to drive over 100 mph is beyond me,” he said. “I don’t think those people realize that they would die instantly if they hit pretty much anything while going that fast let alone how long it would take to stop to avoid an accident in front of them. We haven’t seen a lot of those kinds of speeds, but we have seen a few, and that’s the people the deputies have caught. I’m sure there have been many more than that.
“And I’m not sure why most of those tickets have been issued to people from Pennsylvania. Maybe it’s because of how they drive where they’re from and get away with it all of the time,” Hohinkward said. “Plus, the people that live in Ohio County or close by are likely used to the 45-mph speed limit, and they have accepted it. But yes, speeding on I-70 has been a problem during this three-year project.”
