WESTOVER, W.Va. — A portion of the sewer line replacement work along Holland Avenue in Westover is expected to be completed by the end of the week.
Thrasher Group Project Engineer Casey Young offered an update to Westover City Council during their regular meeting on Monday, where he announced that the retaining wall portion of the project will be completed by Saturday despite some weather delays. This will allow for work to remain on schedule for the approximately $2.96 million project that will include the replacement of sewer and raw water lines and a repaving of Holland Avenue that aims to take place later in the summer.
“We’re probably 75-80 percent done with the retaining wall, we’re looking to get that done hopefully by the end of this week, if not, starting next week depending on the weather,” said Young.
The completion of the retaining wall along Holland Avenue a short distance away from the Westover Bridge will be the precursor to the replacement of approximately 2,800 feet of gravity sewer line and 3,000 feet of storm sewer line beneath the road’s surface. According to Young, that is expected to be completed by the end of the summer, which will be followed by the repaving that is aimed to be completed by no later than the fall.
“Once that starts, they’ll start working on the sewer and stormwater line work through there,” said Young. “They have a contract of 90 days, and we have weather days built into the contract, so if that’s the case, we can add it on to the contract.”
Young mentioned that Thrasher Group project managers have been in contact with the Monongalia County Board of Education in recent weeks to address traffic concerns that have affected bus routes in recent weeks. To adjust for reports of buses being stuck at the construction zone traffic signals temporarily installed for the project, students will now be allowed to be transported without needing to take a River Road-focused detour, which affected routes to the point where kids were unable to get to school on time. With an arrangement in place on an administrative level and a detour in place for the rest of Westover traffic, the hope is that work will stay on pace to keep traffic inconveniences limited to the end of the summer.
“We made a call to the school board and let them know, ‘Hey, there’s no need to take a detour, if you guys just wait at the lights, you can go through and do your normal school bus routes’,” said Young. “We think better communication up front is better than waiting till an issue happens and taking it from there.”
The goal for the Thrasher Group is to complete the entire project by the end of September. This is expected to be weather dependent with crews already working through at least one rain-related delay that has taken place since work began in March. With the replacement of the Dunkard Avenue lift station expected to be started as soon as the Holland Avenue project is completed, contractors appear ready to move on with the next phases of the large-scale project.
“The last we heard from the contractor on that was they would start into May or early June,” said Young on when the Dunkard Avenue portion of the project will begin. “They’re wanting to get all of their electrical equipment delivered here and then start, so they’re not waiting on material and get so far and then have to wait.”