POCA, W.Va. — The state DOH is hoping to widen I-64 to six lanes over a busy, roughly 4-mile stretch in Putnam County.
The work would be done from the Crooked Creek interchange, Exit 39, to east of the Nitro interchange at Exit 45.
“I think most of the people who drive this area westbound toward Huntington, or have to come in from the Teays Valley area every day realize this is kind of the bottleneck area,” said DOH spokesperson Carrie Jones.
Jones said the four-lane area is sandwiched in between six-lane areas, which causes congestion.
“What we’re going to do is expand the main stretch of interstate to six lanes, and then we’re going to add an additional bridge,” she said. “The bridge that connects Nitro to St. Albans, we’re going to put an additional span, and you’ll have three travel lanes and one auxiliary lane.”
Jones said a traffic study in 2013 showed that 60,000 motorists traveled through the stretch a day, but she estimated that by the year 2030 that number could be over 100,000.
“When we look at projects like this, we’re always looking to the future,” Jones said.
An informational public meeting on the proposed project was held Tuesday at Rock Branch Elementary School in Nitro.
“When we work on the interstate, we do all of the work at night,” Jones said of traffic concerns. “Any lane closures, we’d do those during the nighttime hours.”
After a series of steps and plans, Jones said she hoped for construction to begin next spring.