We need a new bridge

Crossing the Ohio River from West Virginia into Chesapeake is just too dangerous on the Nick J. Rahall II Bridge, formerly known as the West 17th Street Bridge. If you're coming from Interstate 64, traffic narrows from two lanes to one. Right at the bridge, cars coming up from Washington Avenue are trying to merge into your only lane. Too many times I have seen near-accidents. Too many times I have come close to being in a near-accident myself.

The bridge opened in or around 1967. For some reason, someone thought it was a good idea to connect two four-lane highways with a two-lane bridge. We need a second bridge there.

As it happens, a news article out of Kentucky today says the estimated prices of new Ohio River bridges in the Louisville and Cincinnati areas have shot upwards substantially because of increases in prices for steel and concrete. We're not talking millions anymore. For such large projects, we're talking billions.

A new bridge at Huntington wouldn't cost $1 billion. It would require some new entrance ramps, but it would be worth it. Sooner or later, someone is going to die there. I hope I'm wrong.

While I'm at it, the state of Ohio should do in Rome Township what it's doing in Pomeroy. Up that way, the state is replacing the old Pomeroy-Mason Bridge with a new bridge. When the new bridge is finished, Ohio will turn it over to West Virginia.

If I were Ohio, I might consider building a new bridge near the spot where the Merritts Creek connector ends on the West Virginia side. That would accelerate development of the eastern end of Lawrence County and possibly the southern end of Gallia County. You would need only two lanes to make an impact, probably, although if you're going to build two lanes, you might as well build four.