photo by: Eric Ayres

Crews work on a section of the sidewalk along Market Street in Wheeling as part of the West Virginia Division of Highway’s ongoing Downtown Streetscape Project.

WHEELING — Construction of the state’s Downtown Streetscape Project in Wheeling is slated to come to a long-awaited conclusion in the coming months, and beginning next week, responsibility for maintaining the vegetation in the new array of planters along Main Street will be transferred to the city.

“The Streetscape project is obviously moving along,” Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron reported this week. “Most of the work now is being done on Market Street. On May 14, the one-year warranty period for the Main Street portion of the landscaping for the Streetscape project will be up. The landscaping will then be turned over to the city.”

Herron noted that as part of the West Virginia Division of Highways contract for what is now a nearly $37 million project, the state is responsible for maintaining the landscaped areas along completed sections of the Streetscape for one year.

The Main Street portion of the work along the new curbs and sidewalks was deemed substantially completed about one year ago. Main Street was subsequently paved in June of last year.

“On Market Street, they are not done yet with the landscaping, so that one-year warranty period has not begun yet,” Herron noted.

“We do anticipate paving to begin in the downtown area on the cross streets — 10th, 12th, 14th and 16th streets — sometime in early to mid-June. Then after that, they’ll be finishing up with Market Street. So the paving part of the Streetscape is about to begin.”

This week, state contractors are revisiting the planters along Main Street and making some tweaks before maintenance is transferred to the city next Wednesday.

“There is an inventory being done on any types of plants that may not have made it through the one-year period,” the city manager explained. “The contractor is also doing some weeding and re-mulching. But after May 14, the Main Street portion of the project will then be the city’s responsibility.”

Herron said a night crew on the operations team — which also performs street sweeping in the downtown area at night — will be tasked with watering the plants, keeping trash out of the landscaping and maintaining the mulch.

During this week’s meeting of Wheeling City Council, Councilman Ben Seidler revisited the issue of the bioswales along the Streetscape areas downtown. Seidler reiterated concerns about the depth of some of the bioswales and the questionable configuration of their design, indicating that the new labyrinth of concrete curbs and planters make the downtown less walkable from a safety perspective instead of more easily walkable.

“It doesn’t look great,” Seidler said of the bioswales, describing the issues as a “nightmare.”

The councilman asked if bigger growth will help fill out some of the bioswales, as some appear to drop down more than a foot before reaching the mulch and plants.

“There have been discussions on the bioswales,” Herron explained. “The bioswales are built in accordance with the design. They are built as stormwater retention facilities.”

Herron noted that some drainage pipes are higher than the base of the bioswales. He explained that there are holes in pipes at the bottom of the bioswales, along with fabric, rocks and dirt.

“It’s designed for the water to be retained there briefly and then slowly drain through the bioswales into the storm sewer,” Herron said, noting that there have been discussions with WVDOH officials about this issue. “Based on the calculation for the storm water runoff, they are at the correct depth. The plant material that is in those bioswales — particularly the deeper ones — are specifically designed for that environment.”

Herron said DOH officials are confident that once the plants mature, they will serve their purpose.

“I hope so,” Seidler said. “I don’t want to be the ‘negative Nancy’ here, but they look like hell. Somebody really screwed up that design, from a visual, aesthetic perspective.”

Officials noted Seidler’s take on the bioswales was a matter of personal opinion, but indicated that he was not alone in his observations.

“Again, one of the things holding downtown back in the future would have been stormwater management,” Herron said. “As I’ve said many, many times — this project is (as much) a stormwater management project as it was a beautification project.”

The city completed stormwater upgrades downtown in order to accommodate the relocation and construction of The Health Plan’s headquarters. Now the state’s Streetscape is expanding those upgrades to areas throughout the heart of the city.

In addition to storm sewer and sanitary sewer improvements downtown, other infrastructure and utility systems were upgraded before surface work on the Streetscape project commenced. The city replaced a 130-year-old water main downtown, and water, electrical, fiber optic and gas lines were also updated.

“It’s a complete project that I believe will set the downtown up for the next 50 to 60 years,” Herron said.

Councilman Ty Thorngate urged his fellow councilman to judge the finished project after work wraps up later this year.

“I say we have to wait until it gets done,” Thorngate said. “Let it grow out a little bit. We’re judging it before it’s even finished yet.”

Mayor Denny Magruder noted that crews from Volunteer Wheeling’s Artisan Center Green Team and Junior League of Wheeling volunteers who helped spruce up the area around the Artisan Center and River City’s new outdoor dining area — including the Streetscape planters.

“I want to offer a public thank you to (Wheeling Heritage Executive Director) Scott Schenerlein and Volunteer Wheeling,” the mayor said. “If you go down around 14th and Main streets, you can see what they did over the weekend around River City with the flowers and the planters.”

Magruder said everyone is looking forward to seeing what downtown Wheeling will look like once the project finally wraps up.

“We’re so excited about where our Streetscape is headed right now and the progress that it’s making,” he said. “If you look at 14th and Main, you can see what it will really look like, I think, when things are done. By the way, anyone who’s interested can sign up. You can go online and join up with Volunteer Wheeling.”