CHARLESTON — Gov. Jim Justice approved the bid award for a major project to improve traffic flow and relieve congestion near West Virginia University in Morgantown. Much of the funding for the project comes from bond sales through the state’s Roads to Prosperity program.
This project will widen Beechurst Avenue and realign the intersection of Beechurst with Campus Drive.
The contract for the project has been awarded to Bear Contracting LLC, with a bid of $5,478,899.91.
“Thanks to the bold vision of the governor’s Roads To Prosperity program, we are able to prioritize and expedite projects like this so the people of West Virginia can get where they need to go as quickly and as safely as possible,” said West Virginia Transportation Secretary Jimmy Wriston, P.E. “By using bond monies to pay for these projects, it provides us the financial flexibility to continue funding our unprecedented efforts to maintain the secondary roads all across our great state.
“Morgantown is a busy city with a lot going on, especially in the areas surrounding WVU,” Wriston said. “This project will go a long way in improving access to Campus Drive and improving traffic flow on a major corridor through town.”
The approximately half-mile project widens Beechurst Avenue from University Avenue to Campus Drive and realigns the intersection at Beechurst and Campus Drive. Realigning the intersection requires construction of a 240-foot-long retaining wall. It is one of a series of projects undertaken by the WVDOH in recent years to widen University Avenue and other streets along the major transportation corridor through Morgantown and past the WVU campus.
WVDOH is coordinating work with the city of Morgantown and WVU on the realignment of the Campus Drive intersection.
The project is designed to improve traffic flow at the newly aligned intersection. Combined with the widened roadway, the project will relieve congestion near the lower end of the WVU campus.
Estimated completion date for the project is spring 2024.
