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Sewer Separation Project Begins in Center Wheeling

WHEELING - A new sewer separation project in Center Wheeling has begun, resulting in the closure of a portion of 22nd Street near Centre Market until April.

Crews from Cast & Baker Corporation of Cannonsburg, Pennsylvania, recently moved heavy equipment and materials into the block of 22nd Street between Main and Market streets, just west of the main entrance to the upper Market House.

The work will remove storm water from the city’s sanitary sewer system in this area. It is one of several similar projects that are taking place in the city over the course of decades as part of Wheeling’s Water Pollution Control Plan.

Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of sewer system upgrades will eventually take place, and once completed, will address environmental issues that arise as a result of the city’s antiquated combined sewer systems.

Improvements in Center Wheeling are the latest upgrades taking place as part of the ongoing effort.

"This project is a sewer separation," Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron said. "The project is part of the long-term control plan."

Legislation approved by Wheeling City Council in 2021 was intended to create a project fund of about $26 million for previously identified water pollution control projects both within the system and at the treatment plant. The Center Wheeling work is one of the jobs being funded by the pool of money created two years ago for the ongoing system improvements.

"It was one of several sewer projects included in the 2021 bond issue," Herron said.

Cast & Baker was awarded a contract last September in the amount of $784,979, to be paid from the city’s Water Pollution Control Bond Fund. Cast & Baker was the lower bidder for the job. By comparison, The James White Construction Company had submitted a bid in the amount of $895,250, and Ohio-West Virginia Excavating bid $1,204,494 for the work.

The expected completion date for the 22nd Street sewer separation project is this April.

With the sewer work taking place this winter and spring, the sprawling array of construction zones are expanding from the downtown area into the upper part of Center Wheeling.

The West Virginia Division of Highways is currently replacing the deck on the Market Street bridge over Wheeling Creek that connects downtown to Center Wheeling, and the city’s contractor is set to begin dismantling the Market Street garage on March 4. A portion of Chapline Street near the parking structure is expected to be closed during a portion of the garage dismantling.