MORGANTOWN — A project to dramatically alter the configuration of the intersection in the middle of Sabraton — W.Va. 7 (Earl L Core) and CR 857 (Green Bag Road) didn’t appear on the West Virginia Division of Highways’ (DOH) radar at the district level until a few days ago, weeks before it was to be bid for construction.
DOH District 4 personnel, including Engineer Don Williams, explained as much on Thursday while addressing about 40 residents of the Norwood and Jerome Park neighborhoods at the Apostolic Church on Sabraton Avenue.
Williams noted that the project — which was put on hold — required no official public meeting as it didn’t meet the environmental assessment standards of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
The project was not designed locally, he said, but in Charleston by a state-hired consultant, HDR.
“I’ll confess, we just saw this last week, and we have concerns with it, too. That’s why we’re here tonight,” Williams said, explaining that while both citizens and District 4 staff have questions, something has to change at that intersection.
He said intersections are graded based on level of service from A to F. The intersection in question is one of several failing crossroads in Morgantown magnifying already serious congestion issues. Williams said the design put for-ward by the consultant will jump the intersection from an F to a C level of service, dramatically increasing its effectiveness.
Williams called the existing intersection “one of the strangest I’ve ever seen.”
“So what we have here now. The way it’s configured now, it cannot handle the level of traffic on Route 7. It can’t do it. So every night, when you hit those peaks and you’re bumper-to-bumper out here, what’s adding to that tremendously is that intersection is a level of service F,” Williams said.
According to Williams, a series of seven potential designs for the intersection presented in 2015 received such universal disapproval in public comments that they were scrapped. Those public comments ultimately informed the plans that surfaced last week, brought forward by one of the potentially affected business owners.
Among the major concerns of residents is the plan’s closure of the short connector — between Hardee’s and Woodburn Shanks — that allows access from Sabraton Avenue to Earl Core Road.
Others noted that the proposed changes would dramatically affect access to a handful of businesses, not only by customers but large delivery trucks.
Lastly, residents said the change doesn’t really help the fact that residents in the Norwood area are bottled in, it would simply funnel them all, as well as all through traffic, to another outlet.
Williams provided a sheet for public feedback and said the best thing residents can do is make their concerns known.
“We’re not going to stand here tonight and debate what should be done here, but we do want to hear you,” Williams said. “Otherwise we wouldn’t have come here this evening.”
Bill Austin, executive director of the Morgantown Monongalia Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), followed Williams with some brief remarks.
City and state elected officials were on hand, as were representatives of the Morgantown Police and Fire departments.
