The West Virginia Department of Transportation recently held an event to celebrate the completion of the $221 million I-70 Bridge Project in Wheeling.
The project rehabilitated or replaced 26 bridges and ramps along a seven-mile stretch.
The city requested that bridges and ramps west of the Wheeling Tunnel be painted blue while bridges and ramps east of the tunnel be painted gray.
Construction began in September 2019. The westbound span was completed in 2020, and the eastbound span was completed in 2021. Minor work and painting of some bridges will continue later this year.
The replacement of the twin Fulton bridges required the complete closure of parts of I-70 for nine months.
“We knew that this project was going to be difficult from the beginning due to the amount of work required and the volume of traffic on I-70,” Tony Clark, West Virginia Division of Highways District 6 Engineer, said. “Due to the Roads to Prosperity bond program, we were able to perform this large amount of needed bridge repairs and replacements under one contract in a relatively short amount of time rather than dragging the work out over several years and multiple contracts.”
When the project was bid in 2019, it was the largest under the program.