BLUEFIELD, WV (WOAY) – A Bluefield city task force met with engineering firms to possibly move forward with on the Grant Street Bridge project.
“We’re trying to see what we can do with [the bridge,]” said city attorney Colin Cline. “Whether we can rehabilitate the bridge, replace it or whether there’s other alternatives to that.”
At the meeting, each firm presented their plan to make the project a reality and answered a variety of questions from the task force.
“What we presented today was a community driven process,” said Jason Schade, representing Modjeski and Masters. “[The process] engages the community in terms of what the community needs as well as… what the best alternative is.”
The meeting lasted several hours. Afterwards, each task force member ranked the presentations to be presented to the city’s Board of Directors at their next meeting. Then, the board will select a firm for the city to move forward with.
“I’m very excited about what we’ve seen and I’m extremely optimistic,” said Cline. “It is a time consuming process. It doesn’t happen overnight, but I’m very hopeful that we can actually get something accomplished for the city.”
Although the meeting involved promising plans, Cline says it will be a while before the project breaks ground.
“I expect it’ll take several months to do the study and once we have the study done, we’ll have a better idea of what our options are.”
