Morgantown Staff Engineer Drew Gatlin said the city has received dozens of requests for additional healthy streets since the pilot project kicked off this summer.
Through the use of signage and other traffic calming measures, the Morgantown Healthy Streets program restricts through traffic on selected routes in order to give residents of all ages more space to recreate and use non-motorized means of transportation.
The concept came about largely in response to COVID-19. People were stuck at home, and public trails and parks were becoming crowded.
“We wanted to give people more space to spread out, incorporating their own neighborhoods. The initial goal was to have some installation within two blocks of every single citizen, so very much walkable,” Gatlin said.
Wagner Road became Morgantown’s first healthy street in July. Since then, Demain Avenue and a portion of Western Avenue (Longview to Somerset) have been added.
One of the project’s goals is to turn known neighborhood cut-throughs into usable space for the neighborhood by keeping traffic on the larger routes that are designed to handle it.
Gatlin said it’s been a learning process.
City Engineer Damien Davis said the project has drawn a lot of support, as well as some criticism.
“These are pretty big changes that we’re making. Some of these roads, we’re trying to strongly discourage non-local traffic from using them,” Gatlin said, noting every street and neighborhood is different and that communication between the city and the neighborhoods is crucial.
A map of streets under consideration is available at the city’s website, morgantownwv.gov.
In other news out of the city’s engineering department, a project using funds generated by the Sunnyside TIF district will put about 2,000 feet of sidewalk and 10 ADA compliant ramps on 8th Street, between Beechurst and University avenues.
Additionally, a bike lane will be incorporated between Beechurst and Grant avenues.
Davis said the sidewalk will be between five and six feet wide. As a result, the width of 8th Street will be reduced from 27 feet to 22 feet.
Lastly, the city will spend just over $150,000 to fix a slide that’s closed White Avenue since early 2019.
Along with repairs to the roadway, Davis said the project will include a 100-foot lagging wall and should take about three months to complete, once the needed materials are on site.
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