MORGANTOWN — Austin, Texas resident John Corbin said the West Virginia Department of Highways (DOH) plan for the Sabraton intersection of W.Va. 7 and CR 85 (Green Bag Road) ultimately won’t impact his life much, if at all.
But, he explained, “that’s not the point.”
Corbin is a part owner of the Hardee’s restaurant at 1600 Earl L Core Rd. and members of his family own a number of properties in the Sabraton area, including Woodburn Shanks, at 1616 Earl L Core Rd.
Reworking that failing intersection has been on the DOH’s to-do list since at least 2015, when residents of the Norwood and Jerome Park neighborhoods roundly rejected a slate of proposed plans featuring roundabouts.
In April, the DOH returned with new drawings, which include the closure of the short connector linking Sabraton Avenue and W.Va. 7 between Hardee’s and Woodburn Shanks.
Once again, area residents voiced their displeasure during a public meeting put on voluntarily by the DOH. It was explained the project required no official public hearing as it didn’t meet the environmental assessment standards of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
Residents argued eliminating that access point would further isolate residents of the Norwood area and simply funnel them, as well as through traffic, to another outlet.
According to DOH plans, there will still be right-in, right-out access to the connector to and from W.Va. 7 in order to access the eateries, but it will be closed to through traffic with a traversable curb where it meets Sabraton Avenue. DOH officials have said curb will be designed to allow emergency vehicles to pass over it.
Corbin, an architect, said his reading of the plans consistently leaves him with one question, “What in the world are you guys doing?”
Corbin said he doesn’t understand how eliminating an access point between Sabraton Avenue and W.Va. 7 is a net gain when it will essentially force more vehicles on Sabraton Avenue through a one-lane choke point in front of Liberty Tax Service.
The DOH has said the proposed changes would improve the intersection’s level of service from an F to a C and reduce the amount of time commuters are left sitting in traffic on W.Va. 7.
If the DOH closes the connector to through traffic, allowing only access to the restaurants, Corbin said his family plans to ask the DOH to condemn it and disburse the property.
“I’ve never heard of anything like a private drive access that’s also a bypass for emergency vehicles. That’s weird, and I’d just as soon not even get into that,” he said.
He went on to say that the current situation is a result of the DOH kicking the can down the road.
“It just seems like they’ve got these plans now and they’re determined to do this regardless of what anybody thinks,” Corbin said. “They could have fixed all that 35 years ago when they condemned our land next to where the Department of Agriculture is now, but they didn’t. They could have done it before the CVS pharmacy was built, but they never did. This is what the DOH does. It waits people out and does what it wants.”
Along with Corbin and dozens of area residents, Morgantown Fire Chief Mark Caravasos has also expressed his concerns to the DOH. The connector is regularly used by crews dispatched from the MFD’s Norwood Fire Station.
“We do have some concerns about the change of the intersection, which have been voiced to WVDOH. The primary concern is with the closure potentially having a negative impact on our response times out of the Norwood Fire Station,” Caravasos explained via email. “This concern stems from a lack of good access to Listravia [Avenue] from W.Va. 7 and from W.Va. 7 to Sabraton Avenue.”
Corbin said he has been served legal notice by the DOH that it intends to temporarily condemn a portion of the Hardee’s property in order to stage construction equipment and material.
In the meantime, he said he hopes local residents are aware of what the DOH has planned.
“It doesn’t affect me. I live 2,000 miles away. But the people in Charleston who are supposed to be protecting Morgantown don’t seem to give a darn. I honestly don’t even think they knew there was a fire station up there,” Corbin said. “I don’t think they care. To me, it seems almost criminal. Why do this if there are public safety concerns?”
Messages left for the DOH were not returned in time for this report.
