Statler says that section needs a ‘permanent fix’
Monongahela Boulevard, where a rockslide on Monday seriously injured a woman, has been repeatedly discussed at the local level and is a known hazard, according to Monongalia County Commission President Ed Hawkins.
Susan Cramer, 65, of Morgantown, suffered severe injures on Monday when her car crashed into one of the large boulders that landed in the road. She is now represented by attorney Dino Colombo.
“Obviously that hillside has been a problem for years and years and years,” Colombo said.
On Tuesday, Cramer was unresponsive in the intensive care unit at J.W. Ruby Memorial, Colombo said. She has undergone one surgery, will likely need more surgeries and was still in critical condition on Wednesday.
Colombo didn’t say if a lawsuit would be filed but did say he is investigating the situation and wondered why over the past 25-30 years the hill has been a problem and nothing has been done to fix it.
Two WVU students were also taken to the hospital after the PRT car they were riding in struck a rock that landed on the tracks.
Hawkins said he and fellow commissioner Sean Sikora were in Charleston on Monday when they heard about the rockslide.
Monongalia County’s unpaid lobbyist, Joe Statler, held an impromptu meeting with the chair of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Sen. Charles Clements (R–Wetzel), on Tuesday.
“Well, I think it went very well,” Statler said.
Satler said he and Clements discussed possible solutions to Monongahela Boulevard as well as White Day Creek Road in the western end of Monongalia County, a highly used road for travel to Hundred and Waynesburg, Pa.
That section of Monongahela Boulevard needs a “permanent fix,” Statler said Wednesday.
Colombo characterized previous attempts at fixing the hillside as “Band-Aid” solutions.
Some of the possible solutions Statler discussed with Clements were heavy steel netting, a barrier between the road and the hillside and improved ditching but, he said, any solution would need to come from an engineer — which Statler is not.
Statler said he was thankful Clements has been so responsive and willing to listen to concerns.
Clements told The Dominion Post he met with Commissioner of Highways Jimmy Wriston on Wednesday morning to discuss the situation in Morgantown.
The West Virginia Division of Highways is in correspondence with West Virginia University about the rockslide because the rocks came from WVU’s property and the two entities are discussing how to proceed, Clements said.
“They know what the problem is and I have faith they’ll address it,” Clements said.
Hawkins, 71, said he’s lived in Mon County his entire life and remembers when Monongahela Boulevard was just two lanes. Over time the road was expanded with additional lanes and the PRT — cutting further into the hillside.
As a result, the same amount of water runoff is forced into a smaller area that absorbs less water and loosens the rocks, Hawkins explained.
