The Kanawha County Board of Education has submitted an application to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection to address environmental concerns associated with an inactive elevated steel railroad bridge known as the CSX Trestle Property. The site is comprised of approximately 1 acre and is located near the intersection of Florida Street and Kanawha Boulevard in Charleston.
The site consists of a single parcel and is currently owned by CSX Corporation. The property is being leased to the Board of Education for use as a parking lot for the new West Side Elementary School, which is under construction. The property historically operated as a railroad line and contains an elevated steel railroad bridge. The parcel is approximately 80 feet wide by 530 feet long and located between Kanawha Boulevard and Second Avenue.
The applicants are working with the WVDEP’s Office of Environmental Remediation (OER) to address environmental conditions at the site. The primary chemicals of potential concern are volatile organic compounds, semi-volatile organic compounds, herbicides and metals.
OER and the applicants have negotiated a voluntary remediation agreement, which includes provisions for identifying human health and ecological risks associated with current and potential future uses of the site, in order to establish appropriate cleanup standards. A final report will be submitted to the OER for review to confirm that the work meets all applicable remediation standards.
Questions regarding this application may be directed to Charles Wilson AIA, Kanawha County Board of Education, Operations Division, 3300 Pennsylvania Ave., Charleston WV 25302, (304) 348-6148; Dave Long, WV DEP, OER, 601 57th Street, S.E., Charleston, WV, (304) 926-0455; or James Hemme LRS, GAI Consultants, Inc., 500 Summers St. – 3rd Floor, Charleston, WV 25301, (304) 926-8100.