CHARLESTON, W.Va. — On Thursday, Charleston Mayor Amy Shuler Goodwin and GAI Consultants held a media briefing at the Kanawha County Library to unveil a first look at a draft concept of the Capital Connector Project.

The Capital Connector is a project that aims to connect Charleston’s East End and West Side by enhancing the area by the Kanawha River, specifically the Kanawha Boulevard Walk and Bikeway.

The project will begin at Magic Island on Charleston’s West Side and will go for over three miles to the base of the 35th Street Bridge. Upgrades will also come to parts of Greenbrier Street connecting the East End and the West Virginia State Capitol Complex.

Mayor Goodwin says plans are coming to fruition and just now becoming available for the public, but the work to get this project started goes back to the beginning of her time in office.

“Five and a half years ago when I first became mayor, we started on this,” Goodwin said Thursday. “We started going after the funding to do this type of planning. This is something that, for five and a half years, we’ve been working on, but honestly, the city has been asking for this for decades.”

Charleston received a $25 million RAISE grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation in late June after receiving over $1 million in 2023 to do an initial study.

Kanawha County resident Heidi Talmage says she was surprised at how much funding is going towards the project.

“I was stunned at how much funding is going to be available for this project,” Talmage said. “It sounds like they are really expecting to be able to do something very meaningful and not just a little band-aid on a long-term problem.”

Talmage also says she thinks this project bringing in more people to the city.

“I think this is going to be a big benefit to the town and to make it more attractive to a bigger variety of people,” Talmage said.

One of the ways the Capital Connector Project may attract more people to the city is the vision to enhance commuter trails along the Kanawha Boulevard. To make the Kanawha Boulevard Walk and Bikeway better, the City of Charleston and GAI Consultants want to reduce four to five 12-foot traffic lanes, allowing for expansion of the pedestrian pathway. In addition, the concept has intersection signal modifications, lighting upgrades, and better stormwater management.

James Yost, Landscape Architect manager for GAI Consultants, says this project means a lot to him and is worth the long days and late nights.

“I’ve lived in Charleston my entire life,” Yost said. “At 36 years old, I’m able to do my most important project that I’ve ever had to do to date. I’m very excited every day I get to work on this. We’ve had many late nights, and it doesn’t matter because I’m enjoying every minute of this.”

Yost was the main presenter at the hearing Thursday night, and he answered questions from community members about the plans.

Community members were able to write in public comments Thursday evening to help expand the vision and can do so until September 14.

Goodwin says it’s the citizens that need to make their voices heard so the project can be catered to them.

“We can come up with what we think would be really great for the city, but it’s you,” Goodwin said. “It’s the public telling us, ‘Hey, I saw this when I was traveling to this city,’ so obviously there’s great inspiration you’re going to see from different cities, but it’s coming from our public.”

Goodwin says there are so many ideas for the project, that some may be put on the backburner to fit the budget.

“The construction grant is $25 million, that’s the funding that we have,” Goodwin said. “We also have to look at what we actually can do within those budget restraints.”

Yost says GAI and the city are keeping their eye on future projects that might not be within the budget.

“We are also looking at even future projects as well,” Yost said. “We’ve highlighted a few areas along the trail that might not be within this first round of money that we get, but it’s something else that we can add on to because the $25 million is going to go so far and then there’s always the future as they continue to add on to the space and then expand into the communities as well.”

There will be another meeting regarding the Capital Connector Project in the coming months that will focus on design development.

A summer 2025 groundbreaking is the goal for the Capital Connector.