Photo by Eric Ayres New bollards have been installed at both entrances to the Wheeling Suspension Bridge — on the downtown side and the Wheeling Island side. The pole barriers allow pedestrian traffic to cross the bridge but prohibit vehicular traffic from entering. West Virginia Division of Highway officials this week said a final decision about the future use of the bridge is yet to be determined.

WHEELING — A final decision about the future use of the renovated Wheeling Suspension Bridge is still up in the air, according to the West Virginia Division of Highways.

Despite the appearance of new bollards — or poles that serve as vehicular barriers — at each entrance of the span, officials this week indicated that the recent work around the structure should not be fuel for speculation that a long-awaited decision has been made about whether or not motor vehicles will ever be permitted on the bridge in the future.

The recent addition of the new bollards led some to assume that the bridge will apparently remain closed to vehicles and be open only to pedestrians.

Brian Kucish, District 6 engineer for the WDVOH, this week explained that the addition of the bollards were simply a wrap-up item from a contract for previous work in the area of the bridge.

“This was on the punch list for them to do it, but they are removables,” Kucish said. “They are removable if need be.”

Each removable bollard has a pad lock on it. They are similar to the removable bollards recently installed at Heritage Port to allow crews to move the trailer for the city’s new large mobile stage in and out of the port area.

Officials agreed that the bollards are more aesthetically pleasing than concrete barriers.

The decision about the future use of the Suspension Bridge will come from officials on the state level at the WVDOT offices, according to Kucish, who added that he planned to inquire about this lingering topic later this week when he meets with them.

“This is still an ongoing thing,” he said. “There’s not been a final decision made yet. I know it’s a decision that will be made down in Charleston.”

The historic bridge, originally built in 1849, has been closed to vehicular traffic since 2019 after an oversized vehicle damaged the bridge in September of that year, raising questions about its ability to continue supporting the weight of motor vehicle traffic. The 2019 incident was the last in a series of previous weight limit violations that prompted temporary closures and inspections.

Since then, a nearly $18 million rehabilitation project was completed on the bridge. The state hired Advantage Steel & Construction LLC to complete the rehab, which was finished in 2024. The work focused on the bridge’s superstructure and substructure, adding a fresh coat of paint, new lighting, upgraded anchorage and other updates to bridge components.

For more than six years now, only pedestrian traffic has been permitted on the bridge. During the rehabilitation, officials at that time had indicated that load-related data about the bridge would be reviewed, giving West Virginia Department of Transportation officials a clearer picture about its structural integrity and on whether or not the span could reopen to vehicular traffic. Costs associated with future maintenance of the bridge have also been cited as factors in the final determination about the use of the span.

Late last year, engineers from the WVDOH indicated that state officials planned to monitor the bridge while crews from Raze International demolished and removed the former Wheeling Inn, which sat adjacent to the area of the bridge’s northeast anchorage.

Speculation has swirled about the future of the bridge whenever work crews introduce new features to that area of 10th and Main streets downtown. When work on the $37 million Downtown Streetscape Project brought new traffic signals to Main Street, the installation of new west-facing stop lights for traffic exiting the bridge into the downtown signaled that the state apparently planned to reopen the bridge to motor vehicles. The same speculation brewed after the sliver of 10th Street from the base of the Suspension Bridge to the intersection with Main Street was paved.

Over the course of the past 175 years, the Suspension Bridge has undergone several renovations as its age and the evolution of traffic from wagons to motor vehicles called for upgrades to the span. WVDOH officials said engineers and their consultants will be looking at all of these factors when determining the bridge’s future use.

The 176-year-old Wheeling Suspension Bridge — regardless of whether it carries vehicles to and from Wheeling Island again or if it is simply used as an historic showpiece and multimillion-dollar pedestrian bridge — is expected to be the central focus of a new Wheeling Gateway Visitor and Heritage Center planned for the now cleared adjacent property where the Wheeling Inn once stood.