T-L Photo/GAGE VOTA St. Clairsville service director Scott Harvey provides city council with an update on the city’s bike trail construction project

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Service Director Scott Harvey provided City Council with an update on the city’s bike trail construction project Monday evening, noting a recent setback involving the historic tunnel.

Harvey said heavy rainfall late last week caused a significant slip on the south side of the tunnel area that must be repaired before work can continue.

“There’s a large slip. With all of this rain, we had a large slip on the south side, and it has to be repaired before finishing the trail project,” Harvey said. “Initially we had some problems with funding. We got several estimates from ODOT as to a good way to fix it and how to fund it.”

He said the slip was not included in the project’s original budget, but a solution was reached after extensive coordination.

“It’s not going to cost the city any additional money. We basically came up with some money through Bellamar that will cover a rough estimate of $200,000,” Harvey said. “That’s been resolved, and they’ll start working to repair the slip later this week. So we were holding our breath here a little bit.”

Despite the issue, Harvey said the project remains ahead of schedule.

“They’re actually ahead of schedule. So this is a bump in the road, but the tunnel rehabilitation and all of that part of it should be done by the end of June,” he said. “Then in July, they’ll do the repavement of the entire bike trail, and they have some work to do on the bridge. So it looks like the end of July would be more realistic.”

Shelly and Sands Co. is handling the project.

Mayor Kathryn Thalman said the section from the gazebo to the tunnel remains rough but does not expect it to impact the city’s summer gazebo concert series.

Belmont County commissioner candidate David Schafer also attended the meeting to seek council’s support ahead of the May 5 primary.

Schafer recently retired as ODOT’s Belmont County transportation administrator after 32 years with the agency.

“What I want as a commissioner is to improve the infrastructure of this area,” he said. “Infrastructure, to me in the past, was just roads and bridges. That’s all we had to worry about developers coming in for a road or bridge. Now, infrastructure means more than asphalt and concrete to me, because you’ve got to have water and sewer line expansion. You also have to have broadband expansion.”

He added that he recently heard Gayle Conelly Manchin say buying a house without internet access today is like buying one without electricity.

Schafer also discussed the upcoming Exit 208 intersection project at Interstate 70 and Ohio 149.

The project will include widening the I-70 overpass and adding lanes to Ohio 149, along with a new storm sewer system, traffic signal, sidewalks and curbs.

Schafer said the project, which was announced during his tenure with ODOT, is expected to take three to four years to complete and could spur economic growth.

“The property behind Schlepp’s has already been purchased — that’s going to be a truck dealership,” he said. “And I’m not talking about just a guy changing oil and doing brake jobs, this is a big company. It’s going to move in there sometime during this construction. There’s a couple hundred acres out that way, virgin ground that already has water and sewage development opportunities on it.”

Police Chief Matt Arbenz thanked city workers for their response to a bomb threat April 10 that led to the evacuation of St. Clairsville Middle and High School.

Arbenz said the city’s use of multiple departments during emergencies has drawn attention from other districts.

“We utilize every city crew — our water guys, our sewer guys — and when I tell different superintendents, you see their eyes light up. It’s like nobody has ever thought about doing that before,” Arbenz said. “There are only so many officers with cruisers working on dayturn that we can pull in here real quick.”