MORGANTOWN — Long before details of a 10-acre land deal and visions of redevelopment came to Richwood Avenue and the doorstep of downtown Morgantown, there was a glaring problem.
Looking down, as if a bird, on the scattershot tangle of streets and intersections along lower Richwood, you can’t help but wonder why, and how, this configuration came to be.
Why does East Prospect Street abruptly end and Richwood Avenue loop around an empty parking lot, creating a strange confluence of intersections with Weaver and Snider streets before terminating at a dangerous, angled intersection with Willey Street?
Before you get to any of that, Richwood passes by Locust Avenue. The confluence of those two streets may be the most geometrically challenged of the lot.
And it’s going to be addressed.
During its most recent regular meeting, Morgantown City Council approved, on first reading, the purchase of two parcels at the intersection of Locust and Richwood avenues.
The two properties, a total of .06 acres at 549 and 553 Locust Avenue, will be purchased from the Monongalia County Development Authority for $216,600, which is the total appraised value of the properties.
Morgantown Area Partnership CEO Russ Rogerson previously said the city is looking to use some $700,000 available through the Willey, Spruce, Brockway TIF district to begin razing the 55 or so structures spread across the roughly 10-acre area planned for redevelopment.
This is the first of those activities.
“The plan is to facilitate road improvements,” City Attorney Ryan Simonton explained. “The corner where Richwood Avenue approaches Locust Avenue is a very difficult angle. These properties are near that intersection. So, the city plans to use this for roadway widening or realignment with the redevelopment plans in the area.”
This is also likely the first of the transportation infrastructure projects coming to the lower Richwood area.
In 2018, the city of Morgantown, working with consultant Aecom and in conjunction with the Morgantown Monongalia Metropolitan Planning Organization, identified the need for significant changes, including the elimination of the Richwood Avenue loop and the extension of East Prospect to form a more functional, signaled intersection with Willey Street.
