photo by: Eric Ayres

Wheeling Councilwoman Connie Cain and City Manager Robert Herron attend a council meeting Tuesday night at the City-County Building.

WHEELING — As summer continues to wind down, paving projects in the city of Wheeling are also expected to wrap up in the coming weeks.

Members of Wheeling City Council met Tuesday night for their first of two regular meetings slated for September. During the meeting, officials provided an update on the work being performed as part of the city’s annual street resurfacing contracts.

Back in April of this year, city council awarded a $625,995 contract with Semper Fi paving of Bridgeport for Wheeling’s 2025 street resurfacing contract.

Council had budgeted $800,000 for street paving projects for this year, and officials noted that all bids for the work came in under budget.

In May, Semper Fi was awarded another contract after submitting the low bid for a special paving project at the Patterson Pickleball Courts in Elm Grove. The resurfacing of the pickleball courts cost $35,002 and was covered through the city’s American Rescue Plan Act funding.

The contract price was significantly lower than proposals submitted by other bidders. By comparison, Cast & Baker bid $154,862 for the work, and Kelly Paving bid $100,361.

Officials had indicated that because Semper Fi already had its work force mobilized on the regular street paving job, the company was able to seamlessly weave the court paving work into its schedule.

Semper Fi was also the low bidder for an additional street reconstruction project funded through Community Development Block Grant funding. A $148,534 contract was awarded for the CDBG paving in June. By comparison, Cast & Baker bid $253,966 for this job, and Kelly Paving bid $299,020.

On Tuesday night, city leaders applauded the contractor for the work that has been completed in neighborhoods around town – on both city streets and in alleys that for years have been in need of resurfacing.

“Semper Fi — the paving group — I have received so many compliments as of yesterday regarding the paving that they’ve done,” said Ward 3 Councilwoman Connie Cain, noting that residents living outside her own ward have also praised the recently completed paving work in their neighborhoods, as well. “They said to tell them ‘thank you’ over and over again. And it’s not just in my ward. People are so thankful for them and what they’ve done.”

Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron said the company is expected to be completing the remainder of its paving work in the coming weeks.

“Speaking of Semper Fi and their paving, they have begun the CDBG portion of the contract,” Herron said. “Six out of the eight alleys have been completed. We do anticipate that they should be able to complete their contract within the next few weeks.”

Motorists in Wheeling have been thankful for a number of freshly paved thoroughfares in the city. In recent weeks, the West Virginia Division of Highway’s ongoing Downtown Streetscape Project reached a milestone when Market Street — which had been a bumpy, construction-scarred route through the heart of town — was resurfaced for the first time in years.

The Streetscape project is also expected to wrap up sometime this fall.