Federal Funds Will Help Redesign Monongalia Highway Interchange

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

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.

Source: U.S. Department of Transportation

Lock Agreement to Make Mon River More Accessible

Recreational boaters can travel the Upper Monongahela River without hindrance for the first time in several years.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers agreed to reopen the Opekiska and Hildebrand locks for recreational use. The locks will be open from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends for a total of 18 days during the summer.

The corps also has opened the Morgantown Lock on weekends.

The Dominion Post reports that the agreement between the corps, the Upper Monongahela River Association and the Monongalia County Commission will make the river more accessible.

The corps closed the Opekiska and Hildebrand locks to recreational use in 2012 because of budget cuts. The Morgantown Lock previously was closed on weekends.

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