Wheeling Hill Sidewalk Fix Will Be Expensive
City Officials Working On Plans With W.Va. Division Of Highways
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WHEELING - Planned repairs to the sidewalk along National Road on Wheeling Hill in the area between McColloch’s Leap and Fulton has been estimated to cost much more than city officials originally anticipated.
However, city leaders in Wheeling are currently working with the West Virginia Division of Highways on plans that - if brought to fruition - will not only replace the deteriorating sidewalk but also bring reinforcement to the hillside. The plan would significantly reconfigure the flow of traffic on the historic hillside for both pedestrians and motorists.
In September 2019, a section of the sidewalk near the top of the hill collapsed, leaving a hole prompting the city to close the sidewalk. One year ago, Wheeling City Council voted to hire a company to provide architectural and engineering services for the Wheeling Hill sidewalk repairs or replacement. The engineering contract with Alpha Associates Inc. of Morgantown was for $9,200, but city officials planned to use $500,000 from money generated by the City Service Fee on actual repair work.
This month, city officials provided an update on the long-awaited project. Alpha Associates provided several options for the fix - all of which were pricey.
"They came up with four or five different ideas on how to deal with the issue, all but one of which was extremely expensive and dealt with putting the sidewalk where it is now, which would have caused additional construction as a result of retaining walls which are failing, cantilevering the sidewalk, etc.," Wheeling City Manager told members of city council. "I think that those options were in the $4 million to $5 million range."
The expensive options eyed work to keep the sidewalk on the south side of National Road - the downhill side that had been experiencing the slippage and need for stabilization. One option, however, looked at moving the sidewalk to the north side - or the uphill-abutting side - of National Road.
"That alternative ended up being the second least expensive, but the most practical," Herron said.
Originally, the cost estimate to do the work on the north side of National Road was around $900,000, the city manager explained.
Officials noted that typically, the state would take care of sidewalks along the roadways that are maintained by the West Virginia Department of Highways. National Road - or U.S. 40 - is one of those state routes. However, the city apparently struck a deal with the state decades ago that placed responsibility for the sidewalks in this area in the hands of the city - and no one really can explain why.
"For some reason the city agreed to take ownership of these sidewalks in the ’70s, I believe," Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott said. "It wasn’t a very smart decision in hindsight, but we can revisit that at a later time. Obviously, it’s an important sidewalk. It connects the Fulton neighborhood to North Park and the rest of the city. So we have to see that sidewalk project through."
Herron said the city has since submitted a plan for the relocation of the sidewalk to the north side to the West Virginia Department of Highways. He noted that the state does still maintain the right of way along National Road, and such a drastic change would require narrowing of the two lanes that go up the hill on National Road westbound.
According to Herron, the DOH reviewed the study and came back with several comments. Those comments were then forwarded back to Alpha Associates, who addressed all of the notations. The architect then submitted those back to the city, and Herron submitted those fixes to the West Virginia Department of Highways last month.
If the sidewalk is moved to the north side, it would require some additional retaining wall work along that hillside, officials indicated.
"Based on the comments and the retaining walls that would need to be done on the north side, the cost estimate went from $900,000 to $1.3 million," Herron said. "The West Virginia Department of Highways is interested in this project, but rather than narrowing the lanes - which they are not interested in doing - what they are doing is they requested a plan study with the central office in Charleston to reduce two lanes to one lane and allow the sidewalk to be constructed on the north side of the road."
City leaders are now waiting on word from the state in order to determine how to proceed.
"I think it’s exciting," Herron said of the potential sidewalk relocation. "I think it’s a great option to address this issue. I don’t think that it’s practical or cost effective to replace the sidewalk as it is now just because of all the damage that has been done below it. So that project is moving forward."
Although the price tag is notably higher than originally expected, officials indicated that the City Service Fee - or User Fee - pool of funding has been targeted to help pay for needed city infrastructure projects like this.
"There are city service fees set aside for the project, and now it’s just a matter of getting the approval back from the West Virginia Department of Highways to coordinate a project," Herron said. "In addition to that, they are also developing a project to stabilize the hillside. That work was in the planning stages prior to us making the presentation on the sidewalk."
Herron said the state had to delay the hillside stabilization plan because this route along National Road was used as a major detour during the Interstate 70 Bridges Project when portions of I-70 were closed.
"So there’s a potential for two very nice projects to be constructed in that area - one by the DOH and one by the city that will address the sidewalks on National Road," Herron said.
Officials said the current sidewalk would likely be demolished as part of the plan, and some type of barrier would be put up on that side of the road after the sidewalk was removed.
City leaders added that despite the problems with the sidewalk stability on the downhill side, the state is confident that National Road is not in danger of slipping in this area.
"The DOH has also gone underneath the sidewalk and looked at the issues," Herron said. "They’re not concerned about the road failing at this time. At some point in time, when the sidewalk is demolished, there’s going to have to be some retaining work done, but it’s going to be related not to the sidewalk but to the road, which is the DOH’s responsibility."
While city and state leaders are exploring the possibility of moving the sidewalk to the north side of the road, the Fort Henry Chapter of the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution already has been working on a project to refurbish the McColloch’s Leap monument that for many decades overlooked the hillside and have it moved to a more accessible piece of land on the north side of National Road at the top of the hill.