Bellaire Bridge - Closure and Planned Demolition

Closure and Planned Demolition

This bridge was closed to traffic on May 1, 1991 because the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) needed to demolish the approach ramp to the crossing on the Ohio side of the river in order to provide right-of-way for a relocated Ohio State Route 7, which would no longer service the bridge.

ODOT paid $2.1 million in November 1990 to the Interstate Bridge Company, the bridge's owner, and demolished the ramp soon after its closure. The U.S. Route 250 and West Virginia Route 2 approaches on the West Virginia side were concurrently abandoned.

The bridge was sold to Roger Barack, owner of a construction company in Bellaire, in March 1991. There were talks of building a new approach on the Ohio side, however, no action was ever taken. $895,000 of the Ohio Department of Transportation payment had been set aside for demolition of the bridge but no demolition came about.

With assistance from then-state Senator Bob Ney, Barack approached ODOT about reopening the bridge, but those plans never bore fruit because "the costs involved far outweighed any potential for the bridge to function economically," according to a 2003 letter from ODOT Deputy Director Randall F. Howard.

In 2002, Benwood, West Virginia officials requested that the bridge be demolished as football-sized debris was falling onto the roadway below, but nothing was done. The United States Coast Guard had ordered the span demolished, and had fined Barack over $200,000 for his nonfeasance. The bridge was still in place in May 2005, The Plain Dealer describing it as "a decrepit nuisance that residents of both states are eager to demolish."