BUCKHANNON – Buckhannon-Upshur Chamber of Commerce members learned about upcoming street projects during a tour of the new City of Buckhannon Street Department facility on Mud Lick Road.

During the B-U Chamber of Commerce’s monthly meeting Wednesday, street department supervisor Brad Hawkins discussed the upcoming summer construction season.

“Right now we’re working on Kanawha Street sidewalks and lighting — that will continue on the south side of the street, down to Wendy’s,” Hawkins said. “We’re hoping to get started on the old Chase Bank lot towards the end of the summer after the city plans exactly what they want it to look like.”

In a previous story by My Buckhannon, Director of Public Works Jerry Arnold said the city has a rough draft plan for the property, but a final design will be put to a vote by the city council.

“It’s mainly a parking area with an increased green space in the center, and I think I’ve seen there was an addition of a pavilion or two,” Arnold said. “There is a design in the works. We’ll have to have some meetings to finalize that design, but we want to have that out to bid sometime after the July 1 date, so we’ll be working on that in the next month.”

After that, Arnold said the project should take about two to three months to complete.

“There’s not that much major work to do – there’s a little bit of infrastructure work to do as far as sewer, water and some electrical on the backside, but a lot of that’s there,” he said. “Most of it is going to be surface work and reconfiguring some of the concrete between the city parking lot and the Chase Bank lot; that transition has to be softened because the overall plan includes both of those lots together.”

Hawkins said they are also looking at a sidewalk and lighting project on Florida and Meade streets between College Avenue and Main Street. They are currently wrapping up the north side of the Gateway West Project and then they must complete the south side.

Hawkins escorted the chamber members throughout the buildings that make up the new street department facility. The facility includes buildings to store vehicles and perform mechanical work, as well as the city greenhouse that was recently constructed.