Federal Funds Will Help Redesign Monongalia Highway Interchange

A transportation project in Monongalia County will receive millions of dollars in federal funds. 

The Monongalia County Commission will receive more than $50 million to redesign Exit 155 on Interstate 79. The project has multiple components including replacing I-79 bridges over Chaplin Hill Road, reconstructing the exit 155 interchange, west bound I-79 flyover reconstruction, and a pedestrian and bicycle connection between the Star City bridge and the regional rail-to-trail network.

The redesign hopes to address several issues including the intersection’s higher than average crash rate, addressing a freight bottleneck, improving access to a job training center for individuals with disabilities, and reconnecting communities separated by I-79 just outside of Morgantown. 

The project will also provide a new connection to the 48-mile rail-to-trail network that serves the region.

Under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the National Infrastructure Project Assistance (Mega) Program provides funding for large, complex projects that are difficult to fund by other means and likely to generate national or regional economic, mobility or safety benefits.