MORGANTOWN — The widening of Mileground Road was programmed in 2012.
Years later, after West Virginia voters passed a constitutional amendment in 2017 allowing funding of a statewide road repair and construction program, it was given a Roads to Prosperity designation and a $10 million budget.
Will 2022 be the year it’s completed?
Yes, according to the West Virginia Division of Highways.
“Recent discussions with [DOH] District 4 indicate that they hope to have the Mileground widening completed by the end of November,” Morgantown Monongalia Metropolitan Planning Organization Executive Director Bill Austin said Thursday.
MPO Policy Board Chairman Ron Justice said construction on the actual road widening is expected to begin in early June.
Up to this point, a lot of the work backing traffic up along the Mileground has been tied to utility relocation.
“As of right now, there’s always going to be a lane in and a lane out, so there won’t be closures,” Justice said. “That don’t mean there won’t be delays from time to time. Obviously during peak traffic times not having that turning lane will cause some backups.”
The finished project will widen the Mileground from three to five lanes, including a center turn lane, between the 705 roundabout and Donna Avenue. Donna Avenue is the turn-in for Northpointe Plaza.
The widening is actually the third installment of an overall effort to improve the entire corridor. The W.Va. 705 roundabout was opened on one end of the Mileground in June 2013. Improvements to the intersection at the bottom of Easton Hill were completed in 2017.
In other news, the policy board unanimously approved the MPO’s Metropolitan Transportation Plan.
The MTP is a federally-mandated document that must be updated every five years or so detailing how the MPO’s urbanized area transportation system will evolve from 2022-2050.
Thursday’s vote follows the May 10 deadline for public input on the draft plan presented in March by MPO staff and consulting firm Stantec.
Justice said 58 comments were submitted and reviewed.
The plan is available at the MPO website, plantogether.org
