Water main replacement project happening on College Avenue

BLUEFIELD, W.Va. (WVVA) - West Virginia American Water announced that it will begin construction on an estimated $1 million-dollar infrastructure upgrade project along College Avenue in Bluefield. The project will replace approximately 2,450 feet of cast iron water main from Golf Street to Leatherwood Lane.

Planned in two phases beginning in mid-March, the entire project is estimated to be completed in June, weather permitting.

“West Virginia American Water is pleased to make this investment in the City of Bluefield through our Distribution System Improvement Charge (DSIC) program,” said Robert Burton, West Virginia American Water president.

“Our engineering and construction teams are committed to working quickly and safely to complete this project in a timely manner. We thank our customers for their patience and understanding as we work to improve service reliability in this area of our water system,” said Burton.

The first phase of the project will be conducted between Golf Street and Leatherwood Lane. This block of College Avenue will remain accessible to traffic with lane closures designated by signage and flaggers. Periodically, lanes will be open to through traffic only. Work is scheduled to be conducted between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. and estimated to be completed by the end of May.

The second phase of the project will be conducted in the Leatherwood Lane and College Avenue intersection. To minimize the impact to businesses in the area, work will be conducted both day and night with estimated completion by the end of June.

“The City of Bluefield and West Virginia American Water have worked closely on the timing of this infrastructure upgrade to coordinate with the City’s sewer project and its paving,” said City Manager, Cecil Marson. Marson added that “We look forward to continuing our strong working relationship with West Virginia American Water as we improve the infrastructure in our area.”

“We want to make sure that at the end of this they’re going to come back and do construction. We’re trying to knock it all out at once. We’re also trying to tag in with the sewer and then at the end of it come in and fix everything and make it pristine like it was,” said City Attorney, Anthony Heltzel.

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