Junior Avenue Bridge to Reopen Soon, TCI Building Demo Wrapping Up
Photo by Eric Ayres Trending
WHEELING -- The Junior Avenue Bridge in Elm Grove may reopen as early as this week as crews from Reclaim Company LLC begin to wrap up demolition of the former TCI of West Virginia building.
For much of this month, the Junior Avenue Bridge has been closed to all traffic because of the ongoing demolition project. That portion of Junior Avenue at the bridge over Wheeling Creek was closed Sept. 8 when demolition crews began tearing down the three-story, hulking brick building.
With the parking lane on National Road closed to traffic in front of the property and the nearby bridge closed, crews have been able to work quickly to raze the building, which had sat vacant in Elm Grove for decades. The building is situated next to the bridge along the creek, at the intersection of Junior Avenue and a primary business hub and traffic artery of Elm Grove on National Road.
"That demolition is going very well," Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron reported last week. "We’re hoping that the bridge will be open three days earlier than what we initially publicized. There is still a little bit of wiggle room there, but we are hopeful that we’ll be able to open that a little bit early."
The closure of the Junior Avenue Bridge was initially slated to continue through Sept. 25.
Wheeling City Council awarded a $130,000 contract to Reclaim for asbestos abatement and demolition of the TCI building at 2184 National Road. The cost of the long-awaited demolition is being paid through state funding from the West Virginia Dilapidated Properties Program, or DLAP funds.
Large cranes had to be utilized on the site to remove steel beams that had been installed across the roof of the TCI of West Virginia building before the rest of the demolition work could proceed, officials noted.
Herron added that additional demolitions in town funded through leftover state DLAP funds are about halfway completed.
A contract was approved by Wheeling City Council in mid-May authorizing the expenditure of $104,800 with Edgco of Lansing for abatement and demolition of several residential properties using DLAP funding. That most recent list of residential demolitions included 1115 ½ Lind Ave., 1321 McColloch St. and 1321 McColloch St. Rear, 2319 Jacob St., 1121 McColloch St., 505 S. York St., 21 Vermont St., 3911 McColloch St. and 3-39th St.
The city manager noted that there are deadlines to complete these state-funded projects this fall. But as work on both the residential demolition list and the TCI building has proceeded efficiently, city officials expect both contracts to be completed before the deadlines.