Elm Grove Business Owners Have Mixed Reaction to Monument Place Bridge Closure

photo by: Emma Delk

Wheelcraft Bicycles owner Andrew Hollis has enjoyed the quiet brought by decreased car traffic at his storefront due to the closure of Monument Place Bridge.

WHEELING — Elm Grove business owners have been experiencing a mixed bag of effects for their establishments a little over a month into the closure of Monument Place Bridge for repairs.

Some business owners have experienced little to no drop in their sales due to the shutdown of the main artery into the neighborhood, which began on April 15 and will last until the end of the year. Others have been inconvenienced by motorists cutting through their parking lots to avoid traffic detours.

The closure’s positives far outweigh its negatives for Wheelcraft Bicycles owner Andrew Hollis, who admitted last Thursday he would not mind if the bridge never reopened.

The most notable benefit of the closure for Hollis is the “significant cutdown” on traffic in front of his storefront, meaning the amount of road noise reaching his store has decreased greatly.

“I was amazed the first day the bridge closed, it was like the power had been turned off because it was so quiet,” described Hollis. “Before the bridge closed there was noise in front of our shop all day because of people revving their engines.”

Hollis noted that the lack of noise from the road at his store has also made customers’ experience of test-riding bikes in their parking lot more pleasant.

“It’s way more peaceful now,” said Hollis. “We can open the front door now since there are no cars whizzing by. I’m glad the trucks are no longer rattling my windows.”

Apart from more peace and quiet, Hollis said the store was experiencing a “normal summer” business-wise. Before the bridge’s closure, he had predicted significant traffic back-ups from 3 to 6 p.m. in front of his store and a decline in their afternoon rush. Hollis has encountered neither so far.

A drawback of the closure for Hollis is motorists cutting through their parking lot illegally to skip traffic on Lumber Avenue, which is a local detour for the closure. The official detour from the West Virginia Division of Highways is Interstate 70, entering and exiting at either Elm Grove or the Washington Avenue exit.

Hollis added that even more residents were cutting through the nearby WesBanco Bank parking lot, which has led to “a couple of collisions.”

“It’s not an all-day thing of people cutting through our lot,” added Wheelcraft Bicycles employee Bob Turner. “Every once in a while you’ll have somebody do it, and it’s not a big deal. The biggest deal is that they go too fast.”

Patty’s Hair Shop owner Patty Contraguerro has also enjoyed a quieter storefront with less traffic.

Before the closure, Contraguerro anticipated little to no effect of the bridge’s closure on her business since her store is further down from the bridge and relies on walk-in traffic. A month later, Contraguerro has found her prediction to be accurate.

“I haven’t felt any impact,” said Contraguerro. “It’s nice because the traffic was always backed up here around 3 p.m. (when Monument Bridge was open). I don’t feel it’s impacted the business, so it’s been good.”

While her business was running “pretty smoothly,” Contraguerro added that she worries about stores closer to the bridge and how they are weathering the shutdown. She noted that the lack of parking at other businesses in the area due to the construction may make residents uninterested in visiting certain stores.

“To me, it’s not a big deal to have to park and then walk to someplace, but some people flip out if you can’t park right where they want to go,” explained Contraguerro. “It’s not bad to walk around here, but people can be lazy sometimes.”

Silver Chopsticks Owner Angela Truong has also “not been hit too hard” by the bridge closure, saying business was “fine at this point.”

“On most days my lunch servers are telling me that rush hour for us was normal,” she noted. “It’s a little inconvenient, but our regular customers find their way here. The locals know their way around the closure.”

Truong added that traffic in the area was “not too bad,” but she has seen a couple of cars cutting through the restaurant’s parking lot to avoid the detour.

After hearing “all the negatives” surrounding the closure leading up to April 15, Elite Massage Therapy owner and Grove Business Association President Kristy Ferguson was glad the biggest impact from the closure has been drivers adjusting to the detour.

Ferguson’s business is along Lumber Avenue, and she has witnessed “a couple of speeding tickets” given to drivers unfamiliar with the area’s speed limits taking the detour. She has noticed a police presence along the stretch of the detour road, which Ferguson hopes will help reduce speed limit violations and illegal parking lot cut-throughs.

Ferguson has also experienced drivers cutting through her parking lot “frequently,” so she and her employees now park their cars in a way that blocks people from cutting through the lot.

“I do see a little bit of traffic through here when school gets out between 2:45 and 3:30 p.m. so it will get a little bit backed up in front of my business, but it moves pretty quickly,” added Ferguson. “The same goes for the 5 o’clock traffic, it gets a little bit backed up, but it seems to clear out pretty quickly.”

Ferguson added that she has also had no complaints from residents along Overbrook Avenue who were worried about heavy traffic coming to their neighborhood due to Lumber Avenue being near their street.

Another group Ferguson has yet to hear complaints from regarding the closure is Elm Grove Business Association members.

“The bridge seems to be moving quickly, and the project is on schedule, so I think we’re all happy about that,” she noted. “There was a lot of negativity and concern initially, and I fielded many questions and phone calls. Truthfully, it ended up not being that big of a deal.”

While Ferguson hopes the closure’s effect will remain minimal throughout the year, she noted Elm Grove business owners and residents may experience the same inconveniences when Shilling Bridge is replaced next year.

“That is coming, and it will maybe make things a little bit more complicated, but drivers will just have to drive 100 more feet,” Ferguson added. “It’s good that this work is happening on these structures, and we’ve been very fortunate to avoid a major catastrophe due to the old age of these bridges.”