Staunton staff outline tunnel repairs at the Wharf, advertise bids; council asks fuller daylighting study

City staff provided a detailed update Sept. 25 on repairs to three damaged tunnel sections beneath the Wharf parking area and discussed longer-term daylighting and flood-mitigation options.

Public-works staff described current design work, core-sampling and permitting steps, and said construction bidding documents are being finalized. Lyle (Public Works staff) said the city expects to advertise the tunnel-repair construction contract “in a couple weeks,” with bids opening in November and a hoped-for construction contract award before the end of 2025 so work could begin as early as January 2026. The initial repairs target three areas beneath Byer Street, Johnson Street and South New Street, where delamination, spalling and rebar corrosion were identified in earlier surveys.

Lyle said the repairs use a top-down excavation approach. At Byer and Johnson streets the plan is to remove and replace tunnel walls and roof sections with reinforced concrete and, where possible, install prefabricated U-shaped concrete sections to limit repeated excavations. He said the Johnson Street work is complicated by utilities: multiple sewer lines, a 10-inch water main and two 8-inch gas lines run through the tunnel; Columbia Gas is coordinating relocation work so a single gas line will remain under the tunnel before replacement work begins.

Staff discussed traffic and staging. Byer Street will be the first repair because it is already closed and can be used to stage construction; staff estimated four to five months for the Byer work and a phased sequence that would follow with Johnson and New Street, acknowledging weather and asphalt-plant seasonality could extend paving completion into later months. Josh Knight (communications staff) described planned detours, parking impacts and signage work and said the city will keep stakeholders and the public updated through news releases and a project web page.

Willow (staff) presented a proposed, more detailed daylighting feasibility scope from consultant Wiley Wilson estimated at $166,000. That scope would develop preliminary site plans that model multiple configurations—concrete channel vs. more natural channel—and perform stormwater modelling (2-, 10-, 25- and 100-year events) for various daylighting scenarios and a baseline tunnel-repair scenario. The consultant would also provide order-of-magnitude cost opinions and a preferred option for council review.

Council members asked for clarifications and urged an ambitious look at natural-channel options. Several councilors said they had little interest in a purely concrete channel solution and asked staff to remove or deprioritize the concrete-only scenario if it reduced the study cost. Councilor Jeff (surname not provided) and others suggested the consultant pursue the largest realistic footprint for natural daylighting to understand the maximum potential flood-mitigation benefits, noting the 2021 city study showed that Wharf-only actions are unlikely to fully resolve downtown flooding because of downstream constraints.

Staff cautioned that consultant modelling shows daylighting alone may not produce large flood-relief gains because restrictions downstream and the hydraulic constraints of the tunnel under the parking garage remain limiting factors. Willow said the new scope is intended to test feasible channel configurations and quantify benefits and costs; staff will return with a revised scope that drops the concrete-only option if the council prefers.

Why it matters: the tunnel repairs are safety-critical and require excavation of downtown streets, coordination with utilities and significant staging that will affect traffic and Wharf businesses. The daylighting study could inform a longer-term vision for the Wharf but is unlikely on its own to resolve larger watershed-level flooding without additional downstream work.

What’s next: staff will advertise repair bids in the coming weeks, pursue required permit conditions, coordinate utility relocations (especially with Columbia Gas and Dominion) and return to council with an amended daylighting scope and a plan for public engagement before any daylighting construction is proposed.