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TOP STORIES OF 2024: Several Major Projects Lead to Progress – and a Few Headaches – for Wheeling

A clear view of the historic Wheeling Suspension Bridge can be seen from Main Street now that the former Wheeling Inn has been razed. (File Photo)

WHEELING — As workers pulled down the awning from the old Wheeling Inn in July, it marked the first step in ridding downtown Wheeling of an eyesore and enhancing the look of that block, and also marked another step in the revitalization of Wheeling through various construction projects.

Bridges, streets and buildings got major makeovers throughout 2024. One of the most anticipated was the teardown of the old Wheeling Inn. Closed as a nuisance, the Wheeling Convention and Visitors Bureau purchased it to make it the home for the new Wheeling Gateway Visitors and Heritage Center.

The demolition began with the awning and quickly moved to the rest of the building. Those who drive past the site now see only rubble that will be cleared to give a clear view of the Wheeling Suspension Bridge.

In its place will be the new Visitors and Heritage Center, which is planned to include viewing platforms overlooking the Suspension Bridge and the Ohio River, a rooftop restaurant and access to Heritage Trail along the Ohio River.

“For more than 150 years, there’s been some type of building obstructing the view to the Suspension Bridge,” said Frank O’Brien, executive director of the Wheeling-Ohio County Convention and Visitors Bureau. “That’s the reason we’re doing this, opening up the Suspension Bridge views is going to really change the gateway to Wheeling in a positive way.”

The demolition of the Wheeling Inn was done while the Downtown Streetscape Project was underway around it. By July, Main Street had been mostly completed and both lanes were open again after months of intermittent closures.

The work along Main Street offered a glimpse of what both Main and Market streets would look like once the entire project was over. Trees and other plants lined Main Street and new bike racks dotted the sidewalks. Work wrapped around Main Street and started working its way up Market Street during the year, and the entire project should be finished in the summer of 2025.

As Market Street’s streetscape project was underway, the new Market Street parking garage was completed. The garage opened for motorists in November.

A pair of bridge projects also wrapped up in 2024, giving drivers clearer paths to get around the city. Market Street Bridge reopened in May, after it had been closed for nearly two years while it needed to be replaced. In the summer of 2022, a fire from a homeless encampment under the bridge forced that bridge to be closed, and it actually was reopened early. The original completion date was scheduled for July.

In Elm Grove, the Monument Place Bridge also was replaced, a needed fix as the oldest bridge in West Virginia had deteriorated. The $3.8 million restoration project started around Memorial Day and the bridge was reopened to traffic on Nov. 6.

The bridge, which was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981, was restored in the same look it had when it was built in 1817. Non-deteriorated stones remained in the arch, and the deck and barrier walls were replaced.

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