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EDITOR'S NOTE: The Intelligencer presents a look back at the past year today through Tuesday with the top 10 stories of 2019, as voted on by the newspaper's editorial staff.
WHEELING -- As the calendar is set to turn to 2020, the future of the historic Wheeling Suspension Bridge remains in, well, suspense.
The bridge spanning from downtown to Wheeling Island celebrated its 170th birthday in 2019, but a series of events forced its closure in the latter part of the year to everything but pedestrians and bicycles.
Options for reopening the 1,100-foot span -- or perhaps leaving it closed to cars and trucks -- are still being considered by state and city officials as 2020 approaches.
The Suspension Bridge's travails in 2019 mirror much of the rest of the city -- celebration followed by disappointment. A day-long 170th birthday for the bridge took place June 22.
One week later, on June 29, a charter bus exceeding the bridge's 2-ton weight limit by a minimum factor of 10 was seen crossing the bridge, forcing its immediate closure.
Information provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation indicate that a loaded bus of that size may weigh up to 20 tons. The driver was issued a $1,600 citation by Wheeling police.
Following an extensive inspection by HDR Engineering of Weirton, the bridge reopened in the middle of August with new hard barriers and reflective signage. State engineers said this would stop overweight and oversized trucks and buses from seeking to cross it. The temporary steel beams were located 7 feet, 6 inches above the road.
But the Friends of Wheeling conducted their own four-hour survey of traffic after the bridge re-opened, and determined 141 of 707 eastbound vehicles observed were overweight. They asked the state to close the bridge permanently to vehicles to preserve its integrity.
On Sept. 19, the West Virginia Division of Highways announced it would close the bridge for at least a year.
DOH officials plan a major rehabilitation project on the bridge in 2020, and once that it completed the closure will be re-evaluated, according to West Virginia Secretary of Transportation Byrd White.
Wheeling officials, meanwhile, suggested re-opening the bridge and putting toll booths and weigh stations at each of the span to prohibit oversize vehicles. The city's wishes were communicated to White through a letter sent from Mayor Glenn Elliott.
The state rejected Elliott's plans in October.
The bridge, designed by Charles Ellet Jr. was completed in 1849. Construction took two years, and cost $250,000.