WESTOVER, W.Va. The city of Westover is preparing to launch two major projects on one of the busiest roads in the area that will come with a major increase in sewer bills for residents. The reconstruction of Holland Avenue includes extensive storm and sanitary sewer work, replacement of the Dent’s Run pump station, retaining wall replacement, sidewalk, curb, and new pavement.

The Dent’s Run pump station is expected to be the most costly item on the list of improvements that are expected to cost about $8.25 million and will increase sewer fees by more than 30 percent, or nearly $10 a month.

“We’ve been working with DOH right now on the permitting; the plans are being approved, and we have some final hurdles to clear with the PSC, but those are moving as well,” Westover Director of Public Works Jason Stinespring said. “So, we’re looking to get it bid out in the sand and move forward from there.”

The project will address 2,000 feet of Holland Avenue that is currently on top of decades-old sanitary and storm sewer lines, some of which are failing, and a major retaining wall on the lower end of the project. The street and work area will be very congested once work and equipment move into the zone.

“We need to replace a sewer line and a storm line running down Holland Avenue from about Paula’s top and all the way down to the turn and halfway down the wall to the bottom.”

The state Department of Highways will develop the traffic control plan to be employed by the successful bidder, and there are really two options, according to Stinespring. Holland Avenue is the major thoroughfare between Morgantown and Westover, and now that Mountaintop Beverage is in full operation with no direct access to I-79 traffic, traffic maintenance could be an even larger issue.

“They would tell us to work from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., and what you’ve done, you fill back in so traffic can go normally the next day,” Stinespring said. “They may tell us to work 24-hours, and then we would have flaggers for 24-hours.”

The city will use $1.9 million in American Rescue Plan money, grants, and low-interest loans to pay for the work.

“The Holland Avenue wall replacement has been packaged together with a pump station replacement for our main station that pumps sewage to Granville,” Stinespring said. “So, they’ve been packaged together, and to do the two of them, it’s a combination of grants and loans.”