photo by: Eric Ayres

Workers from general contractor Triton Construction of St. Albans, W.Va., make their way up 16th Street in Wheeling near the Ohio County Public Library installing new sidewalks and curbs as part of the West Virginia Division of Highways’ ongoing Downtown Streetscape Project.

WHEELING — The West Virginia Division of Highways’ Downtown Streetscape Project in Wheeling is beginning to wind down, with much of the remaining work slated to wrap up in the coming weeks.

The overall project will not likely be finished this year, however, as officials expect that some sections of downtown streets may not be able to be paved until next spring.

Work in the main traffic arteries of the central business loop downtown have been completed — including Main and Market streets, as well as the connecting streets between them from 10th to 16th streets. In recent weeks, crews have moved up 16th Street to peripheral portions of the project along Chapline and Eoff streets, along with the area that connects the downtown and East Wheeling area to the U.S. 250- W.Va. 2 ramps.

“The concrete is supposed to be wrapped up this fall, and then the paving probably won’t be complete until next spring,” said WVDOH District 6 Engineer Brian Kucish.

“They’ve still got 16th to Chapline, and then out Chapline to the intersection with Route 2. Then they’ll also go up 16th to Eoff Street.”

Crews with the $37 million project’s general contractor, Triton Construction, along with subcontractors have been working on installation of new sidewalks and curbs in these areas. New traffic signals are also being installed.

“The ‘streetscaping’ on 16th Street east of Market Street to Eoff Street, and then on Chapline Street and Eoff Street south to W.Va. 2/U.S. 250, is ongoing,” Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron said. “It is the majority of the work remaining. Those roads will be paved when that work is done, and that probably will not occur until spring.”

While work in the heart of downtown along Main and Market streets is basically completed, Herron noted that some tweaks may be in the works.

During the most recent meeting of Wheeling City Council, a business owner in the 1500 block of Market Street expressed concerns over the distribution of on-street parking spaces as freshly marked after the Streetscape Project completed the long-awaited paving of Market Street. New bioswales – concrete planters extended from sidewalks to help handle storm water runoff – were installed in multiple areas outside of the complainant’s building, and a new bus stop was placed directly in front of the building, as well.

Between the bus stop, three new bioswales and hashed no-parking areas, the business owner complained that the number of on-street parking spaces for customers in the general area of his building was reduced from 15 spaces to three spaces after the new lines were painted.

Herron noted that the city can and will most likely relocate the bus stop in that area to better serve the parking needs of building owners in the 1500 block of Market Street.

The Downtown Streetscape Project brings new sidewalks, curbs, ADA-complient curb cuts and intersections, trees and landscaping, street lights and traffic signals, storm sewer management systems, street pavements and more to the downtown area.

After years of planning and development, the Streetscape project officially began in October 2022. Originally, the completion date of the project was projected to be the end of November 2024, but the massive project experienced a number of delays, particularly in the stormwater management phase early in the construction when unexpected issues underground were uncovered.

According to the Streetscape plans, the sprawling project includes installation of more than 41,000 square yards of finishing asphalt, 7,000 linear feet of curbs, 2,414 square yards of brick banding, 10,372 individual flower bulbs for landscaping, 315 new trees of various types and 1,115 different types of shrubs.