ST. CLAIRSVILLE — The historic tunnel at the St.Clairsville Bike Trail is getting a facelift.

Constructed in the early 1900s originally as a railroad bridge, it was later turned over to the city as part of the “Rails to Trails” program, making it the only rail trail in Ohio with a tunnel.

St. Clairsville Service Director Scott Harvey said that the tunnel has received various reconstructions throughout the years with the most recent one being in 2008.

He said that a 90-foot extension to the south side of the tunnel is being added along with the addition and replacement of retaining walls, slope failure correction, development of a trailhead, and trail resurfacing.

Harvey added that the steps on the north side of the tunnel will also be reconstructed so that residents will still be able to access the bike trail from the roundhouse gas station.

“They did some pretty big reconstruction on the steps that come down on the north side and some of that area,” Harvey said. “And, of course, they did some repaving on the bike trail as well. So that leads us to now. This project in particular started in 2022, at least the idea or the concept of doing it. It was kind of a combination of the Ohio Department of Transportation and the city deciding that something needed to be done

“The concerns that ODOT has wasn’t as much the structure of the tunnel, but the outer edges,” he continued. “The hillside was kind of collapsing down around the ends of each east side of the tunnel. So they wanted to do something to kind of stabilize that and broaden the footprint of the bridge so that Route 40 has a little more of an area to sit on above it.”

ODOT Regional Public Information Officer Morgan Eibel said the project is expected to finish in July 2026

“Crews are currently pouring footers for the tunnel extension on the southern end of the tunnel and drilling shafts on the northern end,” she said. “Progress is steady, and we’re still on track to complete the project by next summer.”

Shelly and Sands Co. is handling the project.

“It’s basically a $3.3 million project from start to finish,” Harvey said. “And the city has very little involvement financially other than we did pay for some of the engineering costs and, of course, any easements that needed to be paid for to get the right of ways for the work.

“I was able to get down there (Friday) and really get close up with those guys while they were working,” he added. “And what they’re trying to manage right now is there’s a large amount of water with all of the rain we’ve had. The springs are running full steam out of those hillsides. So they have to pump water for, you know, a couple hours a day just to get to where they can put the pilings in and continue their work. So a large part of the project right now is just keeping the water away from the tunnel.”

Harvey added that he believes the project is great for the city because the bike trail is on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio, and is used by so many people in the community. “The safety issue for me is the biggest thing, I don’t have to worry anymore that something might happen off the hillside,” Harvey said.