STEUBENVILLE, Ohio -- Transportation officials announced they're one step closer to building a new bridge that would span the Ohio River.

Mike Paprocki, transportation study director for the Brooke-Hancock-Jefferson Metropolitan Planning Commission, explained transportation officials have been fighting to generate support for a bridge linking Route 2 and Route 7 in the Wellsburg and Brilliant areas since the mid-1990s.

"The environmental assessment documents have been signed off by both the director of transportation in Ohio, as well as the secretary of transportation in West Virginia," said Paprocki. "The next step is to get federal approval of the document. It would have what is called a finding of no significant impacts."

Paprocki said public hearings to discuss the construction of a bridge could be held this summer if the environmental assessment documents are approved on a federal level.

"It makes it another step closer for the project to be shovel ready whenever a project like this can get funding," said Paprocki.

Initial estimates suggested the project could cost around $118 million.

"When we have a problem at the Veterans Memorial Bridge, and we've had several problems here in the last couple months with trucks turning over or accidents at the ramps that access the Veterans Bridge, our interstate transportation system is crippled," said Paprocki.