zNewsletter Sunday

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg: Wheeling a City ‘on the Way Up’

WHEELING -- U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg visited Wheeling on Tuesday to get a first-hand look at the flurry of investments taking place downtown.

Stopping by the Friendly City for a tour of the downtown before heading to Pittsburgh to meet with First Lady Jill Biden and Steel City officials there, Buttigieg took time to see the progress being made on the $32 million Downtown Streetscape Project and to hear from local business leaders who have also made significant investments in the downtown, as well.

"As you know, if you get public investment right, private investment will follow," Buttigieg told Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott, who led the transportation secretary on the tour along with other city officials and Streetscape Project Supervisor Brad Cottrell of the West Virginia Division of Highways. "If you make it right with public investments, it builds confidence in the private sector to follow through -- where people who are taking real risks and taking real leaps of faith feel that confidence to make their own investments, as well."

Buttigieg noted that the Streetscape project is funded in part by a $16 million federal grant from an infrastructure bill that was signed into law and supported by President Joe Biden and his administration.

"What we're trying to do federally is be a part of the solution," the Secretary said. "We really appreciate great partners on both sides of the aisle in West Virginia - Sen. (Shelley Moore) Capito (R-W.Va.) and Sen. (Joe) Manchin (D-W.Va.) both advocated for this project. I appreciate the chance to be here. We were really pleased to support this grant application. You really have a lot to be proud of."

Wheeling's Downtown Streetscape Project is currently under construction, led by WVDOH and general contractor Triton Construction of St. Albans. The massive project will take about two years to complete and will eventually bring new streets, sidewalks, underground infrastructure, curbs, crosswalks, street lights, stormwater management systems, traffic and crossing signals and other major upgrades to the city's downtown traffic arteries and their connecting streets.

“We’ve been able to mitigate delays opening up the entire west side of the roadway,” Cottrell told Buttigieg. “The expectation of the project was to go more of a block-by-block basis. But encountering unforeseen obstacles, we have the opportunity to bounce around. If we encounter an obstacle on this block, we can bounce around and come down here while we troubleshoot it.

“We’re really starting to hit our stride. There’s a little bit of a learning curve. We’ve got a long way to go, but it’s really starting to come together a little bit,” the project engineer continued.

“It’s looking great out there,” the Secretary said. “I’m excited to see this continue to bear fruit.”

Main and Market streets are part of W.Va. 2, which is within the jurisdiction of the state.

However, the city of Wheeling and the state of West Virginia have worked closely to bring the project to fruition, and the federal support for the project has helped propel the major improvement project.

"The point is to get past all of the politics and just serve every American," Buttigieg said. "West Virginia is full of examples of communities with a ton of potential - and places like Wheeling are starting to see that potential. But we have to have good partnerships to get it done."

The former presidential candidate and former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, noted that he's no stranger to issues that are important to cities like Wheeling.

"I know what it's like to be mayor of not the biggest city," he said, noting that his time as mayor gave him some of the experience in public service that he leans on the most. "It gave me a unique perspective. I was in the front lines of all of these kinds of issues first-hand."

Buttigieg not only toured the Streetscape, but was able to check out Heritage Port, where officials discussed the recent Interstate 70 Bridges Project and the renovation of the historic Wheeling Suspension Bridge being performed by the state.

Buttigieg and the entourage stopped into Waterfront Hall, one of the major new investments taking place downtown from private investors. Owner Dan Milleson told Buttigieg that the Streetscape project undoubtedly influenced his decision to invest in the vacant Water Street building.

Other local stakeholders joined Buttigieg for a roundtable discussion at River City after Tuesday's downtown tour. Doug Carl of the Bridge Tavern, Kevin Duffin of the Flatiron Building, Jessica Barclay of Thrive -- an alternative wellness spa -- and others discussed their investments in the downtown, as did Frank O'Brien of the Wheeling Convention and Visitors Bureau.

"The revitalization we're seeing in downtown is incredible," said Councilman Ben Seidler. "People are talking about it. It's creating a buzz."

Buttigieg agreed with local officials that investments come full circle when municipalities get the infrastructure in place, then housing, retail, entertainment and other investments can follow and become self-sustaining.

"What I see is a lot of pride in a community that is shaping a stronger future by making good investments in its downtown area," Buttigieg said. "When you talk about building up a downtown, that's not just for America's biggest cities. That's really important for communities like Wheeling, and it's really important to us as an administration to be supporting that with funding. So the $16 million that we have pledged to help this project we hope will help to unlock private sector dollars."

Buttigieg said he could see a sense of vibrancy in Wheeling, which he noted reminded him of his own hometown of South Bend.

"He's a former mayor, so he knows first-hand what a project like this is going to mean to the city of Wheeling," Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott said of the Transportation Secretary's tour of the myriad of construction taking place downtown. "I think it was a good chance just to showcase the Streetscape project. I've been mayor for seven-plus years now, and this is the first time we've had a cabinet secretary visit Wheeling.

Elliott said Buttigieg specifically wanted to see the Streetscape project, and local officials wanted to oblige with that, and to provide him with a snapshot of other things that are going on in the city.

"I'd say this is a proud community, and it's a community that's been through ups and downs, but it's on the way up right now," Buttigieg said of the city after his tour. "If Wheeling, West Virginia was a stock, I'd be buying. You can feel the energy here. You can see that sense of momentum here."