PROCTORVILLE - Those who travel through Proctorville may soon be in for a bit of a wait as the East Huntington Bridge will be closed for four weeks for repairs.

Residents and those who work in the community are not looking forward to the hassle.

"I don't think it will be good," Proctorville resident Kevin Bonham said. "I think it'll be bad for people that have to drive to work on the east end and the business in the east end."

Bonham said that before the bypass to the bridge was opened, it took his parents an hour to drive from Rome to the hospital where they were employed.

Several residents agreed that the bridge closing is going to be hard on those traveling to and from Proctorville and the East Huntington, W.Va., areas.

The bridge connects to State Route 7 in Proctorville but motorists will have to look for other options when it is closed for a four-week repair project.

The bridge will be closed either Monday or Oct. 17, according to officials with the West Virginia Department of Transportation's Division of Highways. The bridge will be reopened Nov. 17.

The two-lane cable-stayed bridge with a main span of nearly 2,000 feet is simply too narrow to allow for repairs with traffic on it, highway officials said.

The repairs include replacing two failed expansion joints that allow the bridge to move and resist stress and replacing cracked casings on several suspension cables that are allowing moisture to rust the cable.

Motorists will be detoured to the West 17th Street Bridge or the Robert C. Byrd Bridge near Huntington’s downtown 5th Street, which may mean an extended travel time for motorists to arrive at their destination.

Paula Peoples works at Liberty Circle Medical Center in Proctorville but lives across the river in Barboursville, W.Va.

After the bridge closes, she is going to have to take the interstate to another bridge and drive down - creating up to an additional half-hour both ways. Plus, Peoples said with the price of gasoline it is going to cost motorists more money because they are driving out of the way.

"It's a huge inconvenience," she said. "Actually, it's hard on our patients as well as our employees."

Peoples said they have been trying to inform all of their patients so they will not be held up in traffic.

Those who will be leaving the Proctorville area will be affected as well.

Charlie Workman lives in Crown City and works at DC2 on State Route 7. After the bridge closes, Workman said she will have to leave for work an hour early - at 6 a.m. - to avoid all the morning traffic.

"I think they picked a bad time to do it," she said. "It's going to cause a lot of problems."

Tonya Grieco manages the Marathon station in Proctorville. Grieco remembers problems from the past when the bridge was closed while she worked at Wal-Mart. It took her a half an hour to get to work because of all the traffic it created, she said.

"I think it's terrible," she said. "It'll be bad for all the people who have to drive around."

However, the fact that people cannot drive around Proctorville, may bring more business to local establishments because motorists will not be taking a detour.

"It'll be better business for us because of the bypass, people won't be able to drive around," Grieco said.