Downtown Wheeling Streetscape Costs Soar to Nearly $37 Million

Eric Ayres

WHEELING -- The Downtown Streetscape Project in Wheeling has seen a number of challenges and delays since the massive undertaking began more than two years ago, and with the completion date still several months away, costs associated with the work have ballooned by millions.

To date, the state's Downtown Streetscape Project costs have grown to nearly $37 million, and there are still several months worth of work remaining before the job is expected to finally be completed later this year.

Last week, new West Virginia Secretary of Transportation Todd Rumbaugh took part in a news conference with officials from TRIP -- a national transportation research agency that released data from its recently completed report titled "Keeping West Virginia Moving Forward: Progress and Challenges in Achieving a 21st Century Transportation System."

Officials stressed the fact that inflation and rising construction costs are making it much more difficult to stretch a dollar and to keep the state's road and bridge maintenance up to modern standards.

Brent Walker, executive director of the West Virginia Department of Transportation's public relations office, said that as of last week, construction and inspection costs for the Downtown Streetscape Project in Wheeling have grown to $36,974,021. This includes construction and inspection costs.

"Which includes about $2.6 million of additional work encountered to date," Walker said.

These figures do not include the investments made by the city of Wheeling on work performed in preparation of the state's Streetscape work. The city relocated Nailers Way, performed an array of underground utility work and funded some water and sewer system upgrades downtown ahead of the myriad of surface work that continues to move forward downtown.

The original date of completion at the time of the groundbreaking was November 2024. Delays in the work schedules have pushed that completion date back several times. Previously announced completion dates moved from spring of this year to July. Just recently, officials announced that the latest date of completion for the Downtown Streetscape Project has been pushed back to the fall of this year - sometime in October.

It took many years of planning and work through different city and state administrations to bring the Wheeling Downtown Streetscape Project to fruition. Back in 2018, early estimates for the Streetscape plan with replacement of streets and sidewalks along Main and Market streets downtown had grown at that time to around $19 million from its original projection of $8 million when serious talk about the project began to gain traction. Since then, additional stormwater system components, new traffic signalization and other additions made the scope of the project grow dramatically.

When the long-awaited project was put out to bid in the summer of 2022, Triton Construction Inc. of St. Albans, submitted the lowest bid of $31.9 million, just slightly higher than the project's estimate at that time of $30 million. Triton was named the general contractor for the sprawling, multi-year job.

Ground was officially broken on the West Virginia Division of Highways Project in September 2022. Then-Gov. Jim Justice, Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott and Secretary of Transportation Jimmy Wriston led the ceremonial groundbreaking at that time. While all of those men have since seen their terms in those positions come to an end, the project has been slogging along in downtown Wheeling ever since then.

Unforeseen obstacles were encountered during different phases of the Streetscape work since it began. Underground "vaults" - basement rooms that extend beneath the sidewalks from adjacent buildings - had to be addressed in areas along Main and Market streets. Some maps of underground utilities were reportedly inaccurate, and progress on the installation of the new storm sewer system on Market Street had seen some delays, resulting in months-long street closures in certain blocks downtown.

Early in the project, crews discovered a buried rail car in the area of the WesBanco Arena surface lot near where the state's storm sewer system was built to empty into Wheeling Creek.

Aside from the list of delays and unforeseen challenges, construction costs have increased significantly in recent years.

Although the Streetscape project is a state venture, officials in the city of Wheeling have tried to keep the public informed about the different phases of the work and how they affect downtown businesses and commuters. Officials from the city have traditionally participated in regular construction meetings with WVDOH officials and contractors working on the Streetscape job.

Last week, the city posted its first official project update for the Downtown Streetscape Project since early June of 2024.

The latest update confirmed that the state has pushed the anticipated completion date for the work to October. The anticipated date for paving of Market Street is July 1, according to the report, which noted that work continues along Market Street with much of the focus on sidewalks.

"There have been some challenges with utilities, but those have been worked through by the contractors - Triton, Evans and Pritchard," the update stated. "Businesses in the work zones are accessible."