MORGANTOWN — The Morgantown Monongalia Metropolitan Planning Organization Policy Board will reiterate its support for improvements to Green Bag Road.
As a part of its Thursday meeting, the board asked MPO Executive Director Bill Austin to pen a letter to West Virginia Secretary of Transportation Jimmy Wriston stating as much.
The letter comes in response to a March 7 meeting between property owners along Green Bag Road and Kingwood Pike, who are opposed to the current dual-roundabout design for the project, and representatives of the West Virginia Division of Highways.
At least a portion of the meeting also included Bob Beach, who recently concluded his final session in the West Virginia Senate. Beach is currently a candidate for the Central District seat on the Monongalia County Commission.
In a social media post following the meeting, Beach explained that he’d asked the DOH to postpone or reconsider any action on Green Bag until work on the Mileground is finished and new traffic studies could be conducted.
This didn’t sit well with members of the policy board, which is comprised of representatives from Morgantown, Westover, Star City, Granville, WVU, Mountain Line, the Monongalia County Board of Education and the Monongalia County Commission.
It was explained that such actions not only circumvent the MPO process, but play into a long-held belief of some in Charleston that projects in Monongalia County are hampered and delayed by the inability of community leaders to speak with one voice.
Policy Board Chairman Ron Justice explained the body voted for Green Bag Road improvements in 2013, then reaffirmed that vote in 2017.
“What we don’t get into, and what we don’t have any authority on is the design of that project,” Justice said. “We have a situation where, yeah, we can veto a project, but that’s not in the greater good of the community, and I think anyone would agree with us that our thrust is to improve Green Bag Road. But there’s a misconception out there that we can approve a roundabout or not a roundabout. That’s not within our scope. It’s not what we do.”
The Roads to Prosperity Green Bag project is estimated at $19 million — including $3 million in right-of-way improvements in fiscal year 2024 and $16 million in intersection construction in fiscal year 2025.
It will impact 1.65 miles of Green Bag Road between Napa Auto Parts and Aarons Creek Road and will include a widening of Green Bag Road as well as roundabouts at the intersections of Green Bag Road and Mississippi Street and Green Bag Road and Kingwood Pike/Dorsey Avenue. It will also add various pedestrian and stormwater upgrades to the area.
Policy Board Member and Monongalia County Commissioner Sean Sikora — whose commission seat Beach is seeking — said it’s a shame the body charged with steering transportation dollars to local projects has to continually reaffirm its positions to Charleston.
“Yes, we have to speak in one voice, but also Charleston has to listen to this one voice and pay no mind to people who don’t have the authority to speak on our behalf,” he said.
