Highway Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Lane, Sign Improvements Aim To Reduce Traffic In Eastern Panhandle

Lane and signage improvements in Berkeley County aim to reduce traffic congestion in West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle. The Department of Transportation project was announced Tuesday.

In recent years, West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle has experienced population growth and undertaken new development projects. While this provides economic benefit, it also creates a new problem: traffic.

West Virginia Route 9, which stretches from Morgan County to Jefferson County, has become increasingly prone to traffic congestion, Gov. Jim Justice said Tuesday.

Justice — alongside West Virginia Department of Transportation (WVDOT) Secretary Jimmy Wriston and West Virginia Senate President Craig Blair, R-Berkeley — visited Martinsburg Tuesday to unveil a new WVDOT project that aims to improve travel on the highway.

“It’s a growing area,” Wriston said. “We got some inefficiencies in the way traffic moves through the area on Route 9, and we want to address some of those things.”

The fifteen-step project includes adding new turn lanes, improving major intersections and enhancing lane signage over 10 to 15 miles of the highway in Berkeley County northwest of Martinsburg.

Currently, an average of 24,300 vehicles travel on portions of the highway each day, according to a press release from Justice’s office. Crash rates on the highway are roughly double the state average, the release said.

Blair said that improving transportation infrastructure in the Eastern Panhandle is important to sustain local growth.

“It’s about getting the work done,” he said. “It’s about stepping forward and getting things right.”

Justice echoed Blair’s sentiments, and said infrastructure plays an important role in attracting new residents.

“If we’re wanting to recruit more and more and more folks here and all of a sudden they’re sitting in traffic all day long … are they really going to come?” he asked. “We have got to absolutely market ourselves.”

Senate Approves New I-73 Corridor Economic Commission

The West Virginia Senate unanimously approved an economic commission to identify funding and development opportunities tied to an interstate highway corridor that would span southern West Virginia.

The I-73 highway corridor is currently under construction in southern West Virginia and legislators are looking to parlay the project into an economic opportunity.

West Virginia’s portion of I-73 would connect the state to highways stretching from Michigan to Myrtle Beach. With the region opened to more out-of-state travelers, lawmakers hope economic opportunities will roll in with them.

On Thursday, the West Virginia Senate unanimously approved SB 354. The bill would create an economic commission to advise local industry leaders on development and federal funding opportunities available to them following the project’s completion.

Sen. Mark Maynard, R-Wayne, said the commission hopes to turn the highway’s construction into an economic opportunity for McDowell, Mercer, Mingo and Wayne counties, which the new corridor will intersect.

He added that the highway construction project would qualify the region for new funding opportunities.

“There’s some federal funding out there available for this that currently the state of West Virginia doesn’t get for highway programs,” he said. “Hopefully we can go after some of that.”

Receiving approval from the Senate, the bill now awaits review from the West Virginia House of Delegates.

“Just by making this [corridor] a real thing, it will solve the economic issues because it will allow interstate commerce,” Maynard said. “At the exit ramps, it will allow development, fast food restaurants and truck stops.”

“The bounds are limitless,” Maynard said.

Data Indicates Increase In W.Va. Roadway Deaths

Highway deaths increased by 10 percent nationwide in 2021 compared to a year earlier. Preliminary data shows roadway fatalities in West Virginia are following a similar trend.

Data from the West Virginia Department of Transportation shows highway fatalities in West Virginia increased by five percent in 2021. Though the statistic is considered raw data until confirmed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration this fall, it indicates an increase in roadway deaths that is consistent with the rest of the country.

In an email to WVPB, West Virginia Department of Transportation director Jennifer Dooley says the biggest increase in fatalities involved collisions with pedestrians. The department says it is planning on focusing resources to prevent further crashes with its Strategic Highway Safety Plan over the next five years.

Governor’s Highway Safety Program (GHSP) representative Aimee Cantrell says behavioral trends during COVID-19 may explain this increase. Speeding incidents rose during the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, when there was a lower amount of traffic.

“That sometimes gives people this sense that it’s okay to drive distracted or to drive faster than the posted speed limit, or a couple of other things that really are never true,” Cantrell said.

Cantrell reminds drivers to remember the basics of driving and practice safety measures to either prevent or lessen the impact of a crash. These measures include proper seat belt usage, no cell phone usage while driving, and remaining parked and off the road while putting information into a GPS.

Though the number has increased within the past year, West Virginia has seen a downward trend in fatalities over the past decade. Highway deaths have decreased by more than 15 percent since 2011. Cantrell credits this trend to West Virginia’s seat belt law, which was made a primary offense in 2013.

“We have consistently been trending downward in those fatalities, which is a great thing,” Cantrell said. “It is our mission and goal to decrease injuries and fatalities due to crashes. Our ultimate target is zero deaths on our roads, so that takes the cooperation of all drivers and road users.”

The GHSP is currently working with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s “Click It or Ticket” campaign this Memorial Day season to remind drivers to wear their seatbelts.

State Lawmakers Move To Rename Highway For Former President Trump

The West Virginia House of Delegates is considering a resolution to name a section of highway after former President Donald Trump.

House Concurrent Resolution 53 would rename Interstate 68 from the Maryland state line to the intersection with Interstate 79 in Monongalia and Preston counties as “President Donald J. Trump Highway.”

At a Thursday morning meeting of the House Technology and Infrastructure committee, Del. Evan Hansen, D-Monongalia, said local lawmakers had not been consulted, as is the usual practice for highway renaming.

“I wouldn’t sponsor a naming resolution to name a road after President Obama in Mineral County,” he said in an interview Thursday. “He shouldn’t sponsor one in Mon. County.”

The legislation is sponsored by two dozen Republican delegates with Del. Gary Howell, R-Mineral, as the lead sponsor.

The six delegates who represent the two counties the highway runs through did not sponsor the bill.

The proposal moved to the House Rules committee on Thursday.

“To me, it’s just another example of some of the legislation this session that the supermajority is pushing that is sometimes vindictive and not in the best interests of the people of West Virginia,” Hansen said.

In the 2020 election, Trump won every county in West Virginia but had the narrowest margin in Monongalia County where he received 49.4% of the vote compared to 48.2% of the vote for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.

Over the years, West Virginia lawmakers have named hundreds of roads after notable public figures, athletes, veterans and politicians.

Former President Barack Obama has over a dozen different roadways named after him. None are in West Virginia.

Earlier this year, a Florida lawmaker introduced similar legislation to rename a highway after former President Trump.

Memorial Honors Fallen West Virginia Highway Workers

The West Virginia Fallen Highway Worker Memorial lists 49 names beneath a statue of a worker in a hard hat holding a sign telling drivers to slow down.

Unveiled at the I-77 Williamstown Welcome Center on Wednesday before families and state officials, it recalls those killed in work safety zones since the creation of the State Road Commission in 1921.

The Division of Highways memorial aims to call attention to the importance of safe driving in work zones.

Transportation Secretary Tom Smith says everyone has a responsibility to make sure no more names are added, now that an unprecedented increase in road projects is beginning.

W.Va. Highway Renamed in Honor of Wayne County Veterans

A West Virginia highway in Huntington has been renamed in honor of Wayne County veterans.

The Herald-Dispatch reports a dedication ceremony was held Monday to rename State Route 152 as the “Wayne County Veterans Memorial Highway.”

Wayne County officials, residents and several others gathered to honor veterans with a ceremony that included guest speakers and a sign unveiling.

Wayne County Veterans Association President Dolphus Perry says his organization began about two years ago on the renaming project, which officials helped to get done.

State Delegate Ken Hicks, a Democrat, says he found that many of the more than 4,300 West Virginians who died in World War I and II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War were from Wayne County.

Route 152 extends from Crum to Huntington.