Worst Yet to Come In Tunnel Project

By FRED CONNORS
WHEELING — A man who helped build the Wheeling Tunnel in the 1960s said “the worst is yet to come” for the current renovation project.

Russ Neitzelt, a 71-year-old retired surveyor from Bethesda, worked as an engineer for the C.J. Langenfelder Co., general contractor for the tunnel construction job.

“I was there from the day it started until the day it ended,” Neitzelt said. “If they think they have trouble now, wait until they get to the westbound lane.”

Neitzelt’s comments were in response to recent news stories about a steady flow of water running down a portal wall on the exterior wall at the west end of the westbound tube.

Officials from the West Virginia Division of Highways noticed what appeared to be “gray water” running down the portal. They called the city of Wheeling Water Pollution Control Division to investigate.

City officials conducted bacteriological tests and determined the water was not sewage; rather, they said it was contaminated surface water. WVDOH technicians said a pH test indicated the water was non-acidic and concluded it was not mine drainage water.

Water also can be seen dripping from the roof at the west end of the westbound tube, and more is running from ceiling joints inside the tunnel.

The presence of water and moisture has been at the core of an ongoing problem in the eastbound tube. Workers have tried several types of patching concrete and application techniques in an attempt to get a material to stick to the tunnel walls as a base for new tiles.

The tunnel job has been at a standstill for more than six weeks because of the problem.

“There is no doubt about it. It is water from that old coal mine over the top of the tunnel,” Neitzelt said.

He said the tunnel was dug from east to west, and both tubes were built at the same time. He said “it required drilling, blasting and cleaning out.”

“We moved back and forth from one side to the other until we broke through,” he added.

Neitzelt said the work went fairly smoothly on both sides for the first 1,000 feet.

“We didn’t have to reinforce the roof until we ran into cracks and crumbling rock about 400 feet from the west end,” he said. “Then we were reinforcing it about every 18 inches.”

Neitzelt said he believed the cracks in the rock were a result of blasting done when the mine was in operation. Along with the cracks came the water.

“We had to wear rainsuits and were slopping around in mud,” he said. “We had to dig sump holes and pump the water out. It made work conditions miserable.”

According to Neitzelt, the tunnel was built according to specifications and work continued despite an increasing presence of water.

’We didn’t have many problems in the eastbound tube, but the further we went into the westbound side, the worse it got,” he said.

Neitzelt thinks the WVDOH should have been more concerned about the water at the time and should have taken steps to correct the issue.

“It has gotten worse over the years, and it came back to bite them,” he said.

He believes a solution then — and now — would be to “open up the mine and drain it out.”

Neitzelt said traces of mine water can easily be detected.

“It’s slimy, and it has lime or sulphur content. Water with lime leaves white stains, and sulphur water stains are a reddish color,” he said.

Despite the dripping water, Neitzelt is confident the tunnel is structurally sound.

“There is no danger of the tunnel collapsing because it has a lot of re-enforcement in it,” he said. “But they do have a water problem.”