Buttigieg Surveys Wheeling’s Downtown Streetscape Project
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WHEELING -- U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg visited Wheeling on Tuesday to get a first-hand look at the flurry of investments taking place in the downtown area.
Stopping by the Friendly City for a tour of the downtown before heading to Pittsburgh to meet with First Lady Jill Biden and Steel City officials there, Buttigieg took time to see the progress being made on the $32 million Downtown Streetscape Project and to hear from local business leaders who have also made significant investments in the downtown, as well.
"As you know, if you get public investment right, private investment will follow," Buttigieg told Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott, who led the transportation secretary on the tour along with other city officials and Streetscape Project Supervisor Brad Cottrell of the West Virginia Division of Highways. "If you make it right with public investments, it builds confidence in the private sector to follow through - where people who are taking real risks and taking real leaps of faith feel that confidence to make their own investments, as well."
Buttigieg noted that the Streetscape project is funded in part by a $16 million federal grant from an infrastructure bill that was signed into law and supported by President Joe Biden and his administration.
"What we’re trying to do federally is be a part of the solution," the Secretary said. "We really appreciate great partners on both sides of the aisle in West Virginia - Sen. (Shelley Moore) Capito (R-W.Va.) and Sen. (Joe) Manchin (D-W.Va.) both advocated for this project. "I appreciate the chance to be here. We were really pleased to support this grant application. You really have a lot to be proud of."
Wheeling’s Downtown Streetscape Project is currently under construction, led by WVDOH and general contractor Triton Construction of St. Albans, W.Va. The massive project will take about two years to complete and will eventually bring new streets, sidewalks, underground infrastructure, curbs, crosswalks, street lights, stormwater management systems, traffic and crossing signals and other major upgrades to the city’s downtown traffic arteries and their connecting streets. Main and Market streets are part of W.Va. 2, which is jurisdiction of the state.
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