MORGANTOWN — It now looks as if the temporary traffic lights planned for the I-79 Exit 155 off ramps might be operational by the end of next summer.
An update was provided to the Morgantown Monongalia Metropolitan Planning Organization Policy Board this week in response to member frustrations over the pace of the project.
In October, the body learned West Virginia Division of Highways brass had just signed off on the lights. That news came a full year after the board was told to expect installation as early as the first quarter of 2024, which was then adjusted to fall 2024.
Brian Carr serves as the DOH representative on the policy board.
“Obviously, this has taken a lot longer than everybody would like, but talking with the director of our traffic engineering staff in Charleston, they’re going to move forward with doing the design in-house and they have all intentions of letting the contract on this project in early 2025 – January, February timeframe is what was indicated to me,” Carr said. “They want to try to have it complete within six months … If all goes well, they’d like to have this thing operational by the end of summer, next year.”
But in order to achieve this timeline, the state asked that the MPO use $750,000 sub-allocated to the local agency through the Carbon Reduction Program and Surface Transportation Block Grant to pay for the project.
“Without that, it kind of falls apart,” Carr said.
The lights are to be a temporary fix at the failing interchange ahead of a total reconfiguration of the busy crossroads. That project, estimated at more than $100 million, looks to be four to five years down the road.
But traffic lights won’t be the only illumination achieved through the MPO’s sub-allocated dollars.
The policy board voted unanimously to provide $320,000 to cover a federal Transportation Alternatives Program grant awarded once upon a time to the Mon River Trails Conservancy.
“That Transportation Alternatives project has been around a long time, and it’s been around, for numerous reasons, so long that they don’t have enough money,” MPO Executive Director Bill Austin explained. “So MRTC, along with the state, asked if we would be willing to use some of our sub-allocated funds for that purpose.”
Morgantown City Council voted Wednesday to provide the required $80,000 local match for the grant.
The funds will provide lighting along Morgantown’s riverfront rail-trail from the Hazel Ruby McQuain Amphitheater to the Morgantown Marriott at Waterfront Place.
“I just think this is a huge example of the variety of things that the sub-allocated funds can go for. One project of relatively short standing that’s a huge safety issue that needs to happen right now and another project that’s more than eight years old that was going to be half of a project because the costs had gone up over the years,” Morgantown Deputy Mayor Jenny Selin said. “This will make a huge difference. Both of these projects are important. It’s really nice to see us making use of those funds.”
According to The Dominion Post archive, the MPO anticipated having just over $3.3 million in sub-allocated dollars to direct each year through 2026.
