Nov. 22—MORGANTOWN — It now appears that the temporary traffic lights planned for the I-79 Exit 155 exits could be operational by the end of next summer.
An update was provided this week to the Morgantown Monongalia Metropolitan Planning Organization Policy Board in response to members’ frustrations with the pace of the project.
In October, the body learned that West Virginia Division of Highways leadership had just turned on the lights. That news came a full year after the board was told that installation could be expected as early as the first quarter of 2024, which was then adjusted to the fall of 2024.
Brian Carr serves as the DOH representative on the policy council.
“Obviously this has taken much longer than anyone would like, but in consultation with the director of our traffic engineering staff in Charleston, they are moving forward with doing the design in-house and plan to let the contract for this project early 2025 – the January and February timeframe is what was given to me,” Carr said. “They want to try to have it done within six months… If all goes well, they want to have this thing up and running by the end of summer next year.”
But to meet that timeline, the state requested that the MPO use $750,000 allocated to the local agency through the Carbon Reduction Program and Surface Transportation Block Grant to pay for the project.
“Without that, it kind of falls apart,” Carr said.
The lights are intended to be a temporary solution at the failing intersection, prior to a complete redesign of the busy intersection. It appears that this project, estimated at over $100 million, will take four to five years to complete.
But traffic lights won’t be the only relief achieved through the MPO’s sub-allocated dollars.
The policy board voted unanimously to provide $320,000 to cover a federal Transportation Alternatives Program grant once awarded to the Mon River Trails Conservancy.
“That Transportation Alternatives project has been around for a long time, and it’s been around, for various reasons, so long that they don’t have enough money,” explains Bill Austin, executive director of MPO. “So MRTC, along with the state, asked if we would be willing to use some of our sub-allocated funds for that purpose.”
The Morgantown City Council voted Wednesday to provide the required $80,000 local match.
The money will provide lighting along Morgantown’s riverfront rail trail from the Hazel Ruby McQuain Amphitheater to the Morgantown Marriott at Waterfront Place.
“I just think this is a great example of the variety of things that the sub-appropriated funds can be used for. One relatively short-lived project that is a huge safety issue that needs to be done now, and another project that is more than eight years old. that would become half of a project as costs had increased over the years,” Morgantown Deputy Mayor Jenny Selin said. “This will make a huge difference. Both projects are important. It’s very nice to see us making use of those funds.”
According to The Dominion Post archives, the MPO expected just over $3.3 million in sub-allocated dollars to be available annually through 2026.
