T-L Photo/GAGE VOTA Concerned resident and former St. Clairsville police officer Jeff Gazdik addresses the Belmont County Board of Commissioners, asking for support in attempting to expedite the Blaine Hill Bridge project that is slated to begin in 2027.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Belmont County residents packed the commissioners’ meeting room Wednesday, seeking solutions to the closure of the Blaine Hill Bridge.

Numerous residents visited the Belmont County Courthouse in support of a few who voiced concerns to commissioners about the bridge remaining closed.

Built in 1932, the Blaine Hill Bridge has been a hot topic within the Belmont County community since the Ohio Department of Transportation partially closed the bridge in July while working to address structural issues.

In August, ODOT fully closed the bridge to all traffic in both directions due to “drivers continuing to ignore the closure of westbound traffic” and driving west in the eastbound lanes.

ODOT anticipates construction to repair and replace the bridge to begin by 2027. That timeline is a source of frustration for residents of the Blaine, Wolfhurst and Bridgeport areas, who now must travel east to access Interstate 70 in Bridgeport in order to travel west.

Concerned Barton resident and retired St. Clairsville police officer Jeff Gazdik spoke first.

“We put a little committee together concerning the Blaine bridge and have been in contact with the state rep and the senator’s office trying to get some support from them. We are here today to ask for your support,” Gazdik said. “We’re not happy with waiting four or five years for this to be completed. If this was in Cleveland, Columbus or Cincinnati, there wouldn’t be this long of a wait.”

He added that he’s aware that the commissioners do not have any control over the bridge, but he believes support from the commissioners would go a long way.

“We were told that the bridge was shut down because people weren’t following the one-way direction. If the bridge is safe enough, which we don’t know if there’s been any tests or studies done but safety is number one — we don’t want to put anyone on that bridge if it’s not safe,” Gazdik said. “If the bridge is safe enough for traffic, can we consider traffic lights until the work can start on the bridge?”

He added that a petition was started to reopen one lane of the bridge until the construction begins. It already has received over 1,000 signatures from Belmont County residents.

“We need your support. The businesses are suffering, and Wolfhurst Fire Department can’t get to areas. I know there is mutual aid that can be there sooner, but they’ve also broken records at Cumberland Trail with the amount of calls they’ve received this year,” Gazdik said. “The schools are suffering, the businesses are suffering, the people in the area, the nurses that come for Meals on Wheels — we can sit here all day and say who’s suffering.”

Commissioner Jerry Echemann told Gazdik that the commissioners met with ODOT representatives just before the commission meeting. He said the purpose of the meeting with ODOT was to discuss traffic flow involving the future location of the Belmont County Health Department.

“That was the main reason, but of course we brought up the Blaine bridge as we have before with them,” Echemann said. “And you’re right when you say we technically don’t have anything to do with this, but we do understand the gravity of the situation.”

He added that ODOT officials informed him that the bridge is currently unsafe for vehicles.

“Now as the possibility of one lane with traffic both ways, they said that they had wished to continue to do that for a while knowing that they couldn’t continue for a year or two. But when people weren’t following the instructions, that’s when they decided to step in and close it,” Echemann said. “But they say at this point, the deterioration has gotten to a point that even if people were obeying what they said it can’t be done because of the structure over safety concerns.”

He added that he believes ODOT is aware of the concerns and also wants to expedite the process.

“They did give us some updated information. As you know, they are doing an environmental study and they think if they can hurry it up. It’ll be completed by March of next year,” Echemann said. “They told us they believe if things go well, work can start in the summer of 2026 with an opening at some point in 2027.”

He added that the lengthy timeline of the project is due to it not being a rehabilitation project but a complete rebuild project.

Commissioner J.P. Dutton added that the commissioners have been speaking with state and federal officials ever since the bridge was closed.

“This conversation has been consistent, and our message to them has been this seems like an awfully long time to have a main artery like this shut down,” Dutton said. “Originally they were looking at 2030 or 2031 and they feel like they’ve shortened it as much as they can, and we ask them that it needs to be shortened even more. There are multiple reasons why that bridge cannot be shut down for that amount of time.”

He said that even if construction to rebuild the bridge started tomorrow, due to the amount of work needed it would still take at least a full year before the bridge could be reopened.

“We told them that we are going to keep asking them to please speed this up as quickly as possible because it’s really providing a lot of local damage to accessibility for individuals, emergency response, economically. There’s just a lot of aspects that you outlined,” Dutton said.

Gazdik thanked Dutton and Echemann for their support and for continuing to be transparent with the information.

Pease Township Trustee Mike Bianconi then spoke, restating that he believes nobody blames the commissioners for the bridge being closed for such a lengthy time.

“This is an ODOT issue, not a township issue or a county issue. But the whole thing has been handled wrong,” Bianconi said. “None of us are against safety, but we’re for common sense.”