Three years.

That’s how long it appears it will take for workers to complete Wheeling’s Downtown Streetscape Project, as final touches are now underway and work is set to be completed in the coming weeks.

Back in October 2022, when the project began, it was hard to believe that replacing sidewalks and repaving Main and Market streets and some of the intersecting streets would take 36 months.

Yet the project hit multiple snags along the way — from unplanned sewerline work to multiple change orders to the installation of those awkward and somewhat dangerous bioswales — that extended the completion deadline more than a year.

That additional delay –and the impact it’s had on local businesses — has made the past three years tough for many local entrepreneurs that have toughed it out downtown. So, as downtown fully reopens and as the weather continues to cooperate, we would urge local residents to get out and show their gratitude to those who weathered the Streetscape storm.

It’s not been an easy stretch for any of them.

Find a reason in the coming weeks to get downtown and enjoy the new sidewalks and streets.

Get out and enjoy this stretch of wonderful weather with dinner at a local establishment. Take a walk. See a show.

It’s time to get downtown Wheeling back on your radar.

Trust us when we say you won’t at all be disappointed.