BELLAIRE — Once a well-used link between Benwood, West Virginia, and Bellaire, Ohio, the now-closed Bellaire Bridge reminds residents on both sides of the Ohio River of the asset they lost.

As someone who used the bridge frequently during its heyday for trips to West Virginia, Bellaire resident Mike Dossie “absolutely” wishes the bridge was operational today.

“I used that bridge all the time to go to West Virginia for recreation,” Dossie said. “Now you’ve got to go to Shadyside or up north if you want to come to Moundsville.”

Being kind toward the bridge’s current rusted state, Dossie deemed it “definitely unique.” He uses the landmark as a spot for relatives to ogle when they come to town.

“Every time we have relatives from out of town, we bring them there to see it and ask them ‘Have you ever seen a bridge with no ramp?'” he mused. “It’s a bridge to nowhere.”

The bridge was closed to traffic in 1991, which was before Belmont County Commissioner and Bellaire resident Josh Meyer got his driver’s license. All his memories of crossing the bridge are from when he was “young in the very early ’90s.”

“I grew up in Belleville, so we were down here every so often because Bellaire was a hoppin’ town at one point with a lot of stores and whatnot,” Meyer recalled. “I can vaguely remember crossing over that bridge on a couple of occasions when they had the ticket booth.”

Owner of the Runner’s Connection in Bellaire, Dennis Delbert recalled using the bridge for cross-country practices in the 1990s. For him, the best part of running on the structure was looking down through the grating and feeling as if he was on top of the water.

“It was really kind of cool if you’re good with heights,” said Delbert. “You’re just running across that, and all you could see was the water underneath.”

Delbert is frustrated since his shop is separated from West Virginia customers without the easy connection of the bridge. After seeing the structure sit on the Ohio River for 30 years without use, he said he wouldn’t miss looking at the rusted metal span from his store window.

“Luckily it blends in with the brown on the side of the hill,” he joked. “The only thing that’s bad about taking it down is the fact that it would have been great for both towns if we could actually use it.”

Co-owner of Bellaire’s Community Coffee and Tea Chad Farmer reminisced on teenage mischief involving sneaking onto the closed bridge. As a lifetime Bellaire resident, Farmer is saddened by the bridge’s decline from operational to rusty and falling apart.

“It’s just upsetting to see such a landmark around here slowly fall apart and rust,” he described. “There’s not much paint left on it, so it’s been sad to watch it die a slow death.”

On whether he would sneak back up on the bridge for old time’s sake, Farmer joked that he could not “broadcast that information.”

Across the river in Benwood, residents have many memories of the bridge but also fear the harm the structure may cause in the future.

Undo’s customers Peggy Rawlings and Rodney Board recalled saving dimes as children to pay the toll to cross the bridge.

“Sometimes, I got to give the toll collector the dime,” Rawlings reminisced. “I always felt sorry for the toll collectors and how cold they must’ve been in that little box.”

Board noted going across the bridge in a car was a unique experience due to the grating of the bridge and the smaller width of tires back then.

“You would feel the car wiggling,” Board recalled. “When you were crossing on a motorcycle, oh my, you had to keep your feet down.”

Despite their fond memories of the bridge, both see no future for the structure.

“I guess there’s probably no need for it now since obviously it hasn’t been rehabilitated,” Rawlings lamented. “With the other bridges around us, it’s just another relic from Wheeling’s past.”

Board agreed, adding that the bridge “needs to get torn down before something major happens.”

“Parts of the decking come off, it needs to be scrapped before anybody gets hit,” Board said. “Barges have hit it before and broken parts loose.”

As someone who works under the bridge every day, Undo’s employee Sheree Wojcik worries that a piece may fall down on the restaurant. For her, the “only solution at this point” is to tear the bridge down.

“It should have been fixed a long time ago,” she added. “It would have been nice to keep it up, but it’s been too long.

Advance Auto Parts employee and longtime Benwood resident Patrick Vessels deemed the structure an “eyesore.” Only crossing the bridge a couple of times as a child, Vessels has been frustrated seeing the structure deteriorate more every year.

Despite its deterioration, Vessels admitted he had snuck on the bridge. He described the experience as “sketchy.”

“Some parts feel like they’re gonna fall off and some parts feel as strong as an ox,” he added. “I guess I’d call it inconsistent.”

Vessels wishes the bridge would be fixed up for the convenience of Benwood residents. The extra 15 minutes added to a trip to Bellaire without the bridge often steers him away from traveling across the river.

“It would be so much more convenient just to shoot across that bridge,” explained Vessels. “What they should do is what they’re doing with Suspension Bridge, widen it out and revamp it so you can have more than just the one lane on it.”