Latest news with #WestVirginiaDivisionofHighways
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Taylor County road becomes latest casualty of mine activity in Thornton area
GRAFTON, (WBOY) — The West Virginia Division of Highways (WVDOH) cites mine activity as the cause for a recent road closure in Taylor County after a road slip left a large hole in Glade Run Road/CR 52, rendering it unusable by vehicles 'until further notice.' The map above shows the area of Glade Run where the road slip occurred. The closure was announced on Friday, May 30, in a press release from the WVDOH: 'There will be a road closure on County Route 52, Glade Run Road, starting at milepost 3.23, beginning today, Friday, May 30, 2025, until further notice, for a slip that resulted in unsafe road surface for travel due to mining operations,' the release said. 'The alternate routes are as follows: County Route 09, Knottsville Road, County Route 52/3, Hovatter Road, to County Route 54/2, Thomas Farm Road, to County Route 54, Eby Road, to US 50, George Washington Highway. It is advised that the heavier traffic utilize County Route 09, Knottsville Road via traveling into town.' At the site, a reporter on scene observed a steady stream of water flowing through the slipped area. The closure of Glade Run comes just three weeks after drivers raised concerns over a section of Route 50 in Taylor County between Thornton Hill and Eby Road also due to mine subsidence. On May 14, 12 News reported that 'Rough Road Ahead' signs were posted in the area where Route 50 had partially collapsed. Sections of the road were blocked off with cones while flaggers directed traffic. An engineer from the WVDOH District 4 confirmed that a section of Route 50 was experiencing 'minor subsidence from recent mining operations.' But outside of damage to public roads, private property owners are also seeing damage to their land and buildings. On April 14, John Christopher, a Pennsylvania resident who used to hunt frequently in Taylor County, said that large fissures had opened up across his property and caused some structural damage to the house he built there. The damage to the house has been mitigated with temporary measures, but Christopher said the subsidence in the area is only worsening over time, even after ongoing remediation efforts by CORE Natural Resources. Since CORE began operations in the last year, Christopher said many of his neighbors have had to leave their homes due to the risk of land slips or methane buildup, which can be deadly indoors. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Fairmont's Everest Drive to get completely newly-designed bridge
FAIRMONT — After waiting for two years, replacing the Everest Drive Bridge is within sight. City Manager Travis Blosser broke the news at Tuesday night's City Council meeting. Blosser told council the city has received the first set of plans for the new bridge. The old bridge will be demolished. 'It's going to be good, especially for the truck drivers that have been having to take alternate routes and making really impossible turns through the City, and the businesses that are dealing with that as well,' Council Member Rebecca Moran said. 'Along that route, it's gonna' alleviate a lot of stuff to get that done, and having the DOH take care of that financially is a big help to us.' The bridge resides in Moran's district three. The project as a whole is being spearheaded by the West Virginia Division of Highways. The US Department of Transportation will fund the project through funds delivered to the state of West Virginia, thanks to the previous president's infrastructure bill. Prior to the act, the state and city would have been required to split the cost of the project 80/20, Blosser said. Blosser said the reason it has taken so long to make progress on the bridge is because there's a lot of processes that DOH has had to go through. The state has thousands of bridges DOH is responsible for, and timeframes DOH has to adhere to when it comes to fixing those bridges as well. However, Blosser said City Council made it clear the bridge was one of the projects they wanted to see movement on, so the city began working toward that goal. 'What's the saying, squeaky wheel gets the grease?' Blosser said. 'As a city, we've been squeaking a lot. We have been building relationships with West Virginia DOH, and that is paying dividends for us of having a positive working relationship with them.' Blosser is hopeful the project will get underway in the next several months. The nation as a whole earned a C average when it comes to infrastructure in the country, according a report released by the American Society of Civil Engineers. Bridges themselves earned a C grade as well, while roads earned a D+. However, the Biden administration's focus on infrastructure began moving the needle toward better grades. The New York Times reported that since the last report four years ago, half of the 18 categories tracked in the report received improved grades. However, President Donald Trump froze government spending under that law in January. Trump's freezes of federal programs across the government encountered much legal resistance, and one lawsuit filed in March by Democracy Forward challenged the freeze on the Infrastructure Jobs Act. Fast forward to May, and it appears municipalities can access those funds again. Trump's freezes in other areas have been successfully challenged in court. Council is also setting up a new ordinance that will create a private outdoor area within the city that will allow residents to carry alcoholic drinks outside of a bar to another establishment. Blosser said similar ordinances at neighboring cities have already met with success, as the designated area allows municipalities to promote local businesses as well. 'You'll be able to get a drink in a PODA cup,' Blosser said. 'It has to be in that logo PODA cup and they'll be able to go to another business establishment. They could walk across the street and go to Hannah's Clay Creations, if the business decides that, hey if people are doing clay work and you want to bring your drink with you and enjoy your time, it establishes a lot more commerce. Instead of somebody visiting one business, they start hitting multiple businesses.' The next council meeting is scheduled for May 27.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Bridge on winter '26 timeline, Harmony Grove still under review
May 12—MORGANTOWN — A representative of the West Virginia Division of Highways said the state's current expectation is the Morgantown Industrial Park access road and bridge project will be completed in the winter of 2026. The Dominion Post reached out to the DOH for a project update and to ask when it's expected the project may force the temporary closure of the Mon River Rail-Trail. According to information provided by DOH engineers Jason Foster and Mike Witherow, details about exactly when the trail will be closed will be worked out by the contractor, Triton Construction, and the Mon River Trails Conservancy, the nonprofit that manages and maintains the trail network. However, Foster previously explained that both the project's contract documents and the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, are very clear that the trail will only be closed during times of significant overhead work, or when the safety of trail users is a concern. According to the DOH, steel isn't expected to start going up until early 2026. "The contractor is currently installing erosion control. Tree removal and installation of a sediment pond are expected to start soon, " the DOH explained on April 29. The DOH said the $59.7 million cost estimate remains in effect with no changes expected. The project will improve the industrial park's existing Rail Street, cross the river on a multi-span bridge, and join U.S. 119 (Grafton Road) near Scott Avenue. A connection to Smithtown Road will also be built and a portion of Master Graphics Road — connecting to River Road — will be improved and paved. Around this time last year, representatives of the DOH said the entire process had been "extremely accelerated " out of a concern for public safety due to the increasing number of large trucks accessing the industrial park. Beyond public safety, the state also has a promise to keep. For the last four-plus years, the West Virginia Department of Transportation, Enrout Properties and the Monongalia County Commission have been working toward the construction of a new Harmony Grove interchange to provide direct interstate access to the upper portion of the Morgantown Industrial Park. The Harmony Grove interchange was promised by the state to help land the massive Mountaintop Beverage facility in West Virginia. Trucks started rolling in and out of the 330, 000 square feet that comprise Phase I of the bottling plant in May 2023, but due to the complexities of the federal regulatory process involving interstate projects, the DOH couldn't make good on the interchange in a timely manner. So, in July 2023 the state announced that it was not only going to push forward with the Harmony Grove interchange, but build a bridge across the Monongahela River to the MIP in the meantime. The DOH says details of the Harmony Grove project remain under review by the Federal Highway Administration. "We continue to work with both the West Virginia Department of Highways and the Federal Highway Administration on, we think, the final set of comments as it relates to the Harmony Grove interchange project, " Enrout Properties co-owner Glenn Adrian said during his most recent update to the Monongalia County Commission. "We remain very optimistic that project is continuing to move forward. It is a very complicated process to get approved, but we think we are close to getting that approval."
Dominion Post
12-05-2025
- Business
- Dominion Post
Bridge on winter '26 timeline, Harmony Grove still under review
MORGANTOWN — A representative of the West Virginia Division of Highways said the state's current expectation is the Morgantown Industrial Park access road and bridge project will be completed in the winter of 2026. The Dominion Post reached out to the DOH for a project update and to ask when it's expected the project may force the temporary closure of the Mon River Rail-Trail. According to information provided by DOH engineers Jason Foster and Mike Witherow, details about exactly when the trail will be closed will be worked out by the contractor, Triton Construction, and the Mon River Trails Conservancy, the nonprofit that manages and maintains the trail network. However, Foster previously explained that both the project's contract documents and the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, are very clear that the trail will only be closed during times of significant overhead work, or when the safety of trail users is a concern. According to the DOH, steel isn't expected to start going up until early 2026. 'The contractor is currently installing erosion control. Tree removal and installation of a sediment pond are expected to start soon,' the DOH explained on April 29. The DOH said the $59.7 million cost estimate remains in effect with no changes expected. The project will improve the industrial park's existing Rail Street, cross the river on a multi-span bridge, and join U.S. 119 (Grafton Road) near Scott Avenue. A connection to Smithtown Road will also be built and a portion of Master Graphics Road – connecting to River Road – will be improved and paved. Around this time last year, representatives of the DOH said the entire process had been 'extremely accelerated' out of a concern for public safety due to the increasing number of large trucks accessing the industrial park. Beyond public safety, the state also has a promise to keep. For the last four-plus years, the West Virginia Department of Transportation, Enrout Properties and the Monongalia County Commission have been working toward the construction of a new Harmony Grove interchange to provide direct interstate access to the upper portion of the Morgantown Industrial Park. The Harmony Grove interchange was promised by the state to help land the massive Mountaintop Beverage facility in West Virginia. Trucks started rolling in and out of the 330,000 square feet that comprise Phase I of the bottling plant in May 2023, but due to the complexities of the federal regulatory process involving interstate projects, the DOH couldn't make good on the interchange in a timely manner. So, in July 2023 the state announced that it was not only going to push forward with the Harmony Grove interchange, but build a bridge across the Monongahela River to the MIP in the meantime. The DOH says details of the Harmony Grove project remain under review by the Federal Highway Administration. 'We continue to work with both the West Virginia Department of Highways and the Federal Highway Administration on, we think, the final set of comments as it relates to the Harmony Grove interchange project,' Enrout Properties co-owner Glenn Adrian said during his most recent update to the Monongalia County Commission. 'We remain very optimistic that project is continuing to move forward. It is a very complicated process to get approved, but we think we are close to getting that approval.'
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Yahoo
2 West Virginia communities continue battle with Corridor H
WARDENSVILLE, (WBOY) — While residents in Tucker County, West Virginia have fought to have the four-lane Corridor H highways bypass their towns and tourism hubs, a small town in Hardy County is worried that the new highway will turn it into a ghost town. On April 22, the West Virginia Division of Highways held a public hearing in Hardy County on the Wardensville to Virginia section of the project. Most of Corridor H, which will be 132 miles of highway connecting Interstate 79 in Weston, West Virginia to Interstate 81 in Strasburg, Virginia, is already complete, but the sections in Tucker County and Hardy County are still in the planning stages, largely due to pushback from the communities. About 80 people attended Tuesday's meeting, in-person and virtually, and most of them spoke against the current proposal for the 6.8-mile section of highway, according to a press release from the environmental group, Friends of Blackwater. Smoke from Virginia fire seen in West Virginia The proposed Corridor H route bypasses Wardensville, going south of the current Main Street. Residents are concerned that traffic going around the town instead of through it will turn the community they have worked hard to revitalize into a 'ghost town.' 'This road to nowhere is bypassing somewhere—the town of Wardensville,' said Kirsten Johnson, who works at Macks Bingo restaurant on Main Street. Other residents are concerned about the loss of land containing fishing streams, recreational trails and family farms that have been around for generations. Several environmental groups also spoke, emphasizing that the highway will cut into protected land in the George Washington National Forest and that construction could negatively impact wellhead protected areas. Those in favor of the four-lane voiced their support for creating a safer road than the current two-lane Route 55, which has some dangerous curves and steep grades. The timeline on the WVDOH's website estimates that construction will begin this summer. Public comments are still being accepted by the WVDOH online here until June 1. A full video of the April 22 meeting is available here. Additional details about the Corridor H Wardensville to Virginia project are available here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
