BELMONT COUNTY, Ohio – A large group of Belmont County residents expressed their concerns over the Blaine Hill Bridge closure at the Wednesday meeting of the Belmont County Board of Commissioners.
Jeff Gazdik formed the Blaine Bridge Committee for concerned residents. He is also a Colerain Township Trustee and told commissioners that the bridge’s closure is negatively affecting businesses, seniors and safety services.
Gazdik asked why ODOT says it will take several years to fix the Blaine Hill Bridge when a bridge that collapsed into the Ohio River in West Virginia in 1967, the Silver Bridge, only took two years to replace.
The Blaine Hill Bridge is in Pease Township but Gazdik says it borders Colerain Township and impacts several local communities including Blaine, Lansing, Wolfhurst, Bridgeport, Brookside, Barton and St. Clairsville. Gazdik explained that fire department and EMS response times have increased as crews find alternate routes to reach people. He said home health nurses and meals on wheels also suffer.
Gazdik said local businesses are seeing less revenue and that the residents in his group are asking elected officials to intervene to speed up construction on the bridge.
the businesses down in that area are seeing a 40-50% DEcrease in revenue, and if they have to wait four or for five years for that to be done.
Jeff Gazdik, Blaine Bridge Committee & Colerain Township Trustee
some of these businesses won’t be able to survive, and so we just kind of want answers we felt like we wasn’t getting a lot of answers from ODOT. we have been calling our state rep, our senators and we just wanted to come to the commissioners meeting today to let them know that we formed a group and ask them for their support and help and we felt like we got some good answers today because they had a meeting this morning with ODOT and got some answers that we didn’t know, and we’re going to continue.
Nina Piccin Linz co-owns the Vino di Piccin Winery in Lansing with her siblings. She says she has lost 40 percent of her business due to the bridge closure.
She and her sister wrote a petition to reopen the Blaine Hill Bridge and more than one thousand people have signed it. Linz says the petition asks that ODOT move up work on the project from 2027 to 2025
Linz told commissioners it’s becoming difficult to pay her employees and the musicians she hires to entertain guests, some of whom travel hours to visit the winery.
Business is down 40% and that’s because traffic is down. people are unable to get down there. we have people that come from everywhere. a couple weeks ago we had someone from Cincinnati that drove and they stayed in St. Clairville. they drove down to Bridgeport got off went back to Lansing came to the business they were hoping we had entertainment which we didn’t that night, which you know we’re trying to keep our entertainment, but if.
we can’t pay them, then we’re not going to be able to keep them.
You can learn more about the winery here.
Officials from the Bridgeport School District explained that buses are being rerouted and fuel costs have increased.
One resident, Mr. Britton, who is a retired Ohio State Highway Patrolman, is concerned over possible slower response times to crime scenes and mutual aid to departments. He also is worried about potential hazardous waste spill incidents on I-70 which could shut down the highway. With the bridge closed, he asked how traffic would be rerouted.
Several people in the crowd expressed their frustration and feeling that if the bridge was in a metro area like Cleveland or Columbus, ODOT would try to fix it faster.
Commissioner Jerry Echemann said he and Commissioner J.P. Dutton met with ODOT early Wednesday morning and discussed the bridge issue. Echemann says the commissioners understand the gravity of the situation. Echemann says ODOT expects to have its environmental study completed by March 2025 and that work can start in summer 2026 with the bridge being reopened in 2027.
Echemann said ODOT informed the commissioners that this is not a rehabilitation project. It is a rebuild of the entire bridge. Just the bridge base will stay in place.
Commissioner J.P. Dutton says the board of commissioners have been talking to officials about the bridge since summer. ODOT estimates the bridge will cost $14 million to replace and they are working to secure funding. The commissioners said funding will not be an issue, and if the state of Ohio does not have the money, federal money may be available.
Dutton said ODOT agrees that it is “extremely unusual” for a major bridge like the Blaine Hill Bridge to be shuttered so long.
it’s an awfully long time to have a major artery shut down.
Belmont County Commissioner J.P. Dutton
Residents questioned if ODOT can reopen one lane of the bridge. Dutton said ODOT has no plans to reopen the bridge now due to safety issues. The bridge was in a rapid state of deterioration which led to its closure. Also, motorists ignored barriers when the bridge was briefly open to one-way traffic.
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