photo by: Eric Ayres (file)

Crews from Triton Construction work on a portion of Market Street earlier this year as part of the ongoing Downtown Streetscape Project.

WHEELING — After two years of heavy construction throughout downtown Wheeling, the West Virginia Department of Transportation’s Downtown Streetscape Project began to wind down in 2025.

The $37 million project was expected to be completed this year, but officials have said that some remaining work is expected to linger into the spring.

Nonetheless, the major work on Main Street in the heart of the downtown area — for the most part — was completed this year. Also, a watershed moment came with the long-awaited completion of work along Market Street.

Free-flowing traffic on the two main traffic arteries through the downtown was a welcome change for downtown commuters — complete with the newly revitalized sidewalks, curbs, traffic lights and pavement throughout the downtown area.

The project, spearheaded by general contractor Triton Construction of St. Albans, brought new striping and crosswalks, landscaping, bioswales and stormwater management systems to the heart of the city, as well.

Because parking meters were removed during the demolition of old sidewalks throughout the downtown, the city implemented a new meterless parking system in impacted areas this year. The new method of creating parking turnover in the business district allows for free two-hour parking in most areas with overtime violations enforced by a new automated parking enforcement system.

Parking enforcement vehicles patrolling the downtown area are equipped with cameras and technology that allows the automated system to read license plates and calculate the length of time each vehicle has been parking in one location. Those exceeding the two-hour limit are then ticketed.

Paving, striping and substantial completion of work along Main and Market streets allowed the annual holiday Fantasy in Lights Parade to return to the downtown area this year for the first time since construction on the Streetscape began. The Christmas parade route had been moved to Center Wheeling during the past few seasons because of the widespread construction zone downtown.

While most of the work along Main and Market streets — along with their connecting streets from 10th to 16th streets downtown — have undergone the highly anticipated facelift, work continued late into 2025 along the east end of 16th Street and portions of Eoff and Chapline streets to the south end connector to W.Va. 2/U.S. 250.

Officials with the West Virginia Division of Highways District 6 office said concrete pouring with the “streetscaping” work that remained on the project was expected to be wrapped up this year — including installation of the new curbs and sidewalks in the construction zones on the southeast end of the downtown.

In 2026, final paving of those unfinished portions of the project is expected to take place, along with any finishing touches to put the Downtown Streetscape Project in the books.

Initial concepts of the Streetscape project began over a decade ago with early plans for sidewalk improvements estimated to cost around $3.8 million and paving originally valued at about $4 million. The cost and the overall scope of the project grew exponentially over the past decade.

This year, City Manager Robert Herron noted that work on the Downtown Streetscape Project started back in 2014 and since then, it has “spanned three governors, four transportation secretaries, three mayors and 17 city council members.”

The Streetscape project officially began the construction phase in October of 2022 after many years in the planning and development stages. At the time construction began, the completion date of the work was projected to be at the end of November 2024, but the huge project experienced a number of issues as it unfolded.

Delays during the construction phase were prompted by a handful of challenges, including some unexpected underground issues during the installation of a new storm sewer which now runs directly under Market Street and 16th Street and directs storm water into Wheeling Creek.

“I think we all know that this has been a massive project,” Wheeling Mayor Denny Magruder said this year. “It’s been painful, particularly for our downtown businesses. But the contractor and the subs have done a really great job in trying to accommodate everything that we do in terms of keeping the businesses open, in terms of allowing us to do parades and races and waterfront events.”

Plans for the sprawling Streetscape project state that the overall work includes the installation of more than 41,000 square yards of finished 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.

The Streetscape brings not only a major beautification project to a revitalized downtown area, it also provides infrastructure for current and future growth with storm sewer installation and improved utilities throughout the downtown area ready to accommodate new public and private development.