Local officials suggested closing the tunnels because of these problems. They planned to just build a road over Wheeling Hill instead. Building the new road would have removed at least fifty families from their homes. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was against this plan because those people's houses would be destroyed. The state canncelled the plan for the new road. Rebuilding of the eastbound tunnel started again in July 2008.