Food, folks and fun on a Saturday afternoon...nothing new in the middle of the summer. But Belpre's chamber of commerce wanted more than just a summer cookout. It wanted to celebrate a bridge which has been open to traffic exactly one year.

"I just had a vision of the bridge," says festival organizer Susie Ashley, "and after it opened, the Belpre Chamber of Commerce decided to give both sides a chance to enhance their business."

And people from both sides of the river showed up to celebrate. and we mean the other side of the river beyond Parkersburg.

"This is a mecca down on this river," said vendor Gwynda Stanley, from West Union. "The Ohio River belongs to everybody, and we're having a grand time."

That's because the bridge has benefited people on both sides...whether they're consumers or commuters.

"We have a lot of people on this side who work at DuPont," Ashley says, "and it saves them from going all the way around. I think it will bring business into the lower part of West Virginia."

Corridor D was finished into Ohio with the bridge's opening. But people who live on Corridor H hope the success continues.

"I'll be glad when they get it finished to Virginia," said Bill Gibson of Elkins. "We need that very badly."

But it is completed to our area...and there's optimism about the area's future.

"I think if you build it, they'll come," Ashley concludes. "It's built, and they're on their way."

Earlier this week, the Ohio Department of Transportation said the bridge appears to have diverted traffic from heavy trucks from Belpre.

The bridge is estimated to carry about a thousand trucks a day.