(Publishers Note: On occasion, LEDE News will offer our readers a close-up view of the $32 million beautification/stormwater project that began late last year and has continued since Spring 2023.)
As motorists now prepare to enter downtown Wheeling, one color should be in their minds.
Orange.
That’s because the majority of the orange, construction barrels are now lining Main Street as the bulk of the work now being performed by bid-winner Triton Construction is along the roadway with the eastside sidewalks now being replaced once the former storage vaults located beneath the walkways have been addressed.
Meanwhile, a large stormwater project continues on the corner of Main and 16th streets, and that has limited throughway traffic.
The front entrance to the Capitol Theatre remains accessible, as does the front of ThrIVe-Wheeling. There are temporary spans for patrons to use to enter IC Care, State Farm, Stages, and Mugshots coffee shop.
The Streetscape project was initiated in 2015 by a conversation between former Wheeling mayor Andy McKenzie and former W.Va. Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin with an original price tag of about $9.5 million. Since, however, further study caused increases to the venture, including the fortifying of the vaults, the addition of bump-out sidewalks and ADA access ramps, new street trees, parking meters, signalization and crosswalks, and bike lanes from East Wheeling.
The established completion date, as set forth when the bid was awarded Aug. 9, 2022, is Nov. 28, 2024. That date, however, may change because of additional challenges that have been encountered since the digging began, and that includes the discovery of an entire rail car found buried near the banks of Big Wheeling Creek near the rear of Wesbanco Arena.
