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From Staff Reports
PARKERSBURG -- The Belpre Bridge will be closed for about an hour Saturday morning as The Parkersburg News and Sentinel Half Marathon and Two-Mile Race get underway in downtown Parkersburg.
That's standard procedure for the races, but motorists' alternative routes during that time will be limited due to the new traffic pattern at the Memorial Bridge.
On Monday, the Memorial Bridge moved to one-way traffic as a $50 million rehabilitation project continues. In part because drivers were failing to heed signals regulating traffic moving across the single open lane in both directions, the bridge can only be crossed by vehicles traveling from Parkersburg to Belpre.
"Tolls will remain in effect during the race and no changes to our detour route (are) planned," said Ken Szeliga, executive vice president of construction and operations for United Bridge Partners, parent company of Parkersburg Bridge Partners, which owns the Memorial Bridge. "We will have flaggers on the west side of the bridge in case an emergency vehicle needs to cross the bridge and go west to east during the event."
The change to bridge traffic was announced Aug. 8 and went into effect a week later.
Upon learning of changes to the traffic pattern on the Memorial Bridge, race organizers decided to give drivers an extra 45 minutes Saturday morning, pushing closure of the Belpre Bridge back to 7:45 a.m.
Though Half Marathon, Two-Mile Race and Parkersburg Homecoming activities will continue to cause downtown Parkersburg to be congested, and alternate routes should be considered, traffic across the Belpre Bridge will resume as soon as the area is cleared of race participants. That's expected to happen around 8:45 a.m.
Meanwhile, the Blennerhassett Bridge will remain open without alterations.