WESTOVER — With Holland Avenue complete, save some additional paving and few punchlist items, the city of Westover is turning its attention to the second of two major sewer system upgrades – the replacement of its main lift station along Dunkard Avenue.
Casey Young, with Thrasher Engineering, told Westover City Council on Monday that preliminary excavation work on that project has begun.
“They started last week. They’re telling me it’s going to be three and a half months to finish, so sometime in mid-January,” Young said.
Green River Group was awarded the $2,958,025 contract for the job in September 2024.
“They’re planning on putting the wet well in first, which is about a 35-foot excavation through there,” Young said. “Their shoring and sheeting was supposed to be to be delivered [Monday], so they’re going to start excavating and putting that all in. They’re going to have a 24-hour water pump pumping groundwater into containment and then discharging it into the Mon River.”
The lift station is central to the city’s sewer system as it pumps flow from Westover beneath the Monongahela River to meet up with the larger Morgantown Utility Board system.
In addition to the replacement of the station, the project includes the installation of 400 feet of 12-inch gravity sewer line and 375 feet of 12-inch forcemain.
MUB is currently operating Westover’s sanitary sewer system through an operations and maintenance agreement approved by the West Virginia Public Service Commission. Once the lift station project is complete, MUB’s acquisition of the system will be finalized.
As for Holland Avenue, Young said there will be some additional paving work, which could begin as early as next week.
Further, Thrasher is continuing to work on separate safety and beautification improvements to install a handrail and lighting along the Holland Avenue sidewalk in the project area.
“We need an easement from a gentleman to put the power control panel and meter on. We’re in the process of trying to get that. Once we have that, we should be able to bid that project out,” he said.
At the request of the city, Thrasher is also taking a look at a handful of stormwater-related issues. Those include a sinkhole on Riverside Avenue in the area of Walgreens; the riser system that regulates the flow of stormwater out of the city’s fishing pond; and damages to the stormwater system around the city’s ballfields following flooding events this summer.
In other news, Public Works Director Jason Stinespring said substantial progress is being made on the pickleball/tennis courts, as well as the construction of new pavilions – all in Westover Park.
“If you haven’t driven by the pickleball and tennis courts, please drive down that way. The vinyl surface is applied and most of the fencing is done. It’s gorgeous. It looks really nice,” he said, explaining that work is nearly complete.
Weather permitting, he said the parking pads for the new pavilions should be poured this week.
Lastly, council approved a trick-or-treat time of 6 to 7:30 p.m. Oct. 30.
