BLUEFIELD, W.Va. – Bluefield city leaders say they’re expecting significant infrastructure improvements within the next five years.
At the top of the list is the city’s Safe Streets For All plan which is being made possible thanks to around $31 million in federal and state funding.
“We have a roundabout that’s going to be on 52 at the Bluefield State campus. There is streetscapes as well as widening or adding of bike lanes on College and Stadium Drive. Widening of the Cherry Street gap as we call it along 52 to allow for a sidewalk from the dorms to Bluefield State University,” said Bluefield city engineer, Curtis French.
French says the project is in the early stages of implementation and right now the city is getting paperwork together for the West Virginia Department of Highways to proceed with the road work.
French says groundwork on the project is about two years out.
“They’ve got to come in and actually do the engineering to make sure the roadways and ideas that we had in the safety action plan can actually come to fruition. Measuring grades, depths, levels, doing cost estimates and then we have to actually bid out the work,” said French.
French says the city currently has traction on about $56 million in infrastructure grants altogether. Another notable project is a plan to reconnect the east end and north side of Bluefield to the rest of the city.
The project is part of a federal grant called the Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program.
“There wasn’t historically investment on that side of town and we want to alleviate that problem. We want to rectify it. We want to widen the streets up and give access to the residents on that side of town to be able to come to this side of town easily,” said French.
French says within the next few months he expects engineers to begin documenting the east end and north side of the city for possible changes.
He says he expects meetings to be held between city leaders and residents of the east end and north side this year. The purpose of those meetings will be to discuss what the residents would like to see done to their community.
Other notable infrastructure plans include a possible sidewalk on Cumberland Road that will stretch from Bluefield High School to Bluefield Primary School.
There is also plans to create an overpass where the Midway Tunnel is located, federal grant funding has already been given to the city for that project.
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