WHEELING — Mayor Glenn Elliott believes opening Main and Market streets from 10th to 16th streets for two-way traffic will alleviate some of the problems pedestrians experience, thus making the downtown Wheeling area more appealing for residents, workers and visitors.

Elliott recently received a letter from the West Virginia Division of Highways informing him state and federal officials plan to cover 90 percent of the cost of studying downtown traffic patterns to determine if two-way traffic in this area is feasible.

“We have to make it easier and safer to be a pedestrian in our downtown,” Elliott said Thursday. “Some people drive way too fast, especially on Main Street.”

“We consider two-way (traffic) as key to improving the experience downtown.”

For several decades, vehicles on Main Street have traveled south, while those on Market Street have gone north, largely because the route is considered part of W.Va. 2.

In June, city council voted 6-1, with Councilman Dave Palmer in opposition, to spend $45,000 to study downtown traffic patters — a condition for DOH officials to consider allowing two-way traffic. If the state and federal funding comes through, however, the direct cost to city taxpayers will only be $4,500.

“I think it’s a good sign,” Elliott said of the letter from the state. “It shows that they believe that it is at least something to be considered.”

The letter, signed by Deputy State Highway Engineer Robert Pennington, shows the DOH believes federal dollars will cover 80 percent of the study’s cost, with the state providing 10 percent and the city the final 10 percent.

“The $45,000 was an estimate. What this tells us is that whatever the study’s cost, the city only has to pay 10 percent of it,” Elliott said.

Elliott and other council members have said they want to reinvigorate downtown Wheeling into the kind of area it was decades ago: a place in which one can live, work, shop and enjoy entertainment, all within walking or bicycling distance.

“That is the kind of place people today, particularly young people, want to live. A lot of these people don’t have cars. We need to look out for pedestrians,” he said.

The concept would not impact the exit ramps of Interstate 70 from the Fort Henry Bridge or the Wheeling Tunnel, Elliott said. However, the status of the entrance ramps in the area of 10th and Market streets are up for discussion, Elliott said.

“No one I have talked to has told me it’s impossible,” he said of allowing southbound traffic from 10th and Market. “Will it be a challenge? Yes.”

Elliott acknowledged the situation on Main Street now is “challenging,” due mostly to the $755,000 stormwater project that is slowly moving northward. Though he is not sure of the timeframe, Elliott said the traffic study should coincide with a multi-million-dollar streetscaping project for the downtown area.

“We hope that begins next year, but it may get pushed back to 2019,” he said of the streetscaping project. “Hopefully, the traffic study can coincide with it.”

This endeavor, Elliott said, includes street paving for all of Main and Market streets between 10th and 16th streets, as well as for the numbered streets in between. There will also be paving on portions of Chapline Street, along with new sidewalks for Main and Market streets.

The original cost estimate for this, Elliott said, was $10 million, with the city’s share being $2 million. Elliott expects this number to increase due to “unforeseen issues” with the sidewalks.

“I’m not sure they realized a lot of our sidewalks are sitting over vaults,” he said.

Whatever the final cost, Elliott said the city’s portion is 20 percent, with the state covering the rest.

“We’re going to keep pushing them on it,” he added.

The streetscaping plan will utilize tax increment financing, which is a tool that allows local governments to borrow money for development projects in a defined district, on the promise they will repay the debt with the proceeds from future gains in property tax revenue within that district.