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WHEELING -- The closure of Stone Bridge in Elm Grove has been delayed, yet construction projects are expected to continue throughout Wheeling for the next several months.
City leaders are encouraging frustrated motorists to be patient through work zone woes.
"We are very much a city that is under construction right now," Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott said Tuesday. "I know folks are very frustrated from the emails I get and the comments we all get. All of these projects are happening at once, and they're all state projects."
The ongoing Interstate 70 bridge replacement is a "once-in-a-generation" project expected to continue into last year, resulting in detours and traffic delays around the city. In the coming months, the $30 million Downtown Streetscape Project will begin in downtown, which has already been peppered with orange barrels as the city has prepared for the state project with its own major water and sewer upgrades.
"The city is doing its part with the underground stuff, but the Downtown Streetscape Project is going to be ramping up soon," Elliott said.
"We have the Suspension Bridge, which is still closed and is back out to bid, so hopefully that project will be ramping up again in the fall."
Work on Elm Grove's Stone Bridge continues , but the originally scheduled road closure there is being delayed until next year. Aside from some aspects of the highway work, however, much of the construction taking place in and around the city is expected to continue well into next year when the state does close the bridge.
"These projects are creating major disruptions for folks, I understand that," Elliott said. "One of the great things about Wheeling is that it's a place where you can get in your car and be anywhere in about 10 minutes. Well, that's not true right now. I try to just remind myself to maybe add about 10 to 15 minutes to that so I can get to places with a little less stress."
The city has tried to help with detours, according to the mayor, noting that a number of roads being used for detour routes were recently paved.
"We just urge patience," he said. "The one upside is that in about a year or a year and a half, we're going to have a completely rebuilt city highway system and a streetscape system that is going to look great. We're going through some pains now. I recognize that a lot of people are frustrated. In a perfect world, all of these things wouldn't be going on at the same time, but that's just the way it's worked out."
While many of the current road construction projects in the Wheeling area are being conducted by the state, the city also has improvement projects on tap, too.
"Back in the fall of 2020, city council appropriated close to $900,000 for paving of city streets," Councilman Jerry Sklavounakis said. "The subcontractor wasn't able to get through all of that last year. I think they got through about 80% of that job, leaving about 20% of the city streets under that contract that still need to be paved. They started that up again."
Sklavounakis said crews have begun breaking up pavement on some of the remaining streets scheduled to be paved as part of last year's city resurfacing projects.
"Once again, please be patient," Sklavounakis said. "There's a lot going on. That's the price of progress that we pay, and hopefully the city streets will be finished -- at least this round -- and hopefully city council is going to appropriate a significant amount of funds again this summer so we can finish up paving some more city streets.
"Neighborhood capital improvements is one of the big drums I like to beat. I believe the neighborhoods deserve this, and I believe that most members of city council agree with that."
Wheeling Vice Mayor Chad Thalman said the city has invested a lot of money into resurfacing its streets, but more needs to be done in the future.
"Since 2016, city council has invested nearly $4 million in paving projects," Thalman said. "While a lot of progress has been made, many more streets and alleys still need our attention."