The Market Street Bridge project could provide a $1.8 million boost to accelerate planning

BROOKE COUNTY, W.Va. — Mike Paprocki, executive director of the BHJ Planning Commission, briefed the Brooke County Commission on Tuesday on two projects aimed at moving the Ohio Valley forward.

Armed with news and monetary figures, Paprocki made an announcement about the Market Street Bridge that aims to help accelerate the project.

“We have been in contact with the Department of Highways,” Paprocki said. “We have spoken with senior management, the Secretary of Transportation and his staff, and we look forward to committing some dollars to the project. I want to start a planning project. It would be a site study.”

How much could be set aside to help accelerate progress on the bridge as we try to get this money from the Department of Highways?

“They are considering possibly programming $1.8 million to get that process started,” Paprocki said.

Paprocki also discussed plans to help increase employment in the area following factory closures in recent years.

“On the brownfield program, we have been involved with the Business Development Corporation and the Jefferson County Port Authority,” Paprocki said. “We have been involved in a coalition going after brownfield subsidies; that started in 2015.”

Now, almost ten years later, the project is still moving forward.

“Since then, we have looked at approximately 75 different sites in Brooke, Hancock and Jefferson counties and evaluated, assessed and planned for redevelopment,” Paprocki said.

“The big site we’re really excited about is Form Energy. That was one of the first sites we got involved with.”

Paprocki believes that both the bridge and brownfield projects can only mean positive things for the area.

“We would like to make a generational improvement in the area,” he said.