Justice Coming To Wheeling Friday For Streetscape Groundbreaking, Community Conversation
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The City of Wheeling will break ground Friday on its long-awaited multi-million dollar Downtown Streetscape project, and Gov. Jim Justice will be there to celebrate the occasion.
That won't be Justice's only event in the Friendly City that day. He'll also stop by Centre Market after the groundbreaking for a conversation with members of the Northern Panhandle community.
The groundbreaking will take place at 11 a.m. Friday at 1025 Market Street in Wheeling. The Downtown Streetscape project, estimated at a cost of $32 million, will transform downtown Wheeling on both Main and Market streets. Planned improvements include repaving streets, upgrading sidewalks and curb ramps to be ADA-accessible and installing new traffic signals.
The project is a partnership between the city and the West Virginia Department of Transportation.
"It will beautify that town beyond belief," Justice said about the project in August. "I'm sure it will initiate additional growth. It is a project badly needed ... great project for the City of Wheeling. More and more and more good things are happening in that area. We absolutely want to take care of that town and make it just that much better."
St. Albans-based Triton Construction Inc. was awarded the low bid for the project.
At noon, Justice will move to the outdoor plaza near Coleman's Fish Market in Centre Market. There, he and Babydog, his pet English bulldog, will welcome community members to talk about a number of subjects. Among his expected topics will be his proposal to reduce West Virginia’s personal income tax, and his opposition to Amendment 2, a constitutional amendment that would give the West Virginia Legislature the authority to reduce or eliminate six categories of tangible personal property taxes, including taxes on motor vehicles, machinery and equipment, and inventory.