MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Morgantown commuters will temporarily have to look for alternative routes to get into town.
Dates for closure of the Mileground Interchange were announced by the West Virginia Department of Highways Wednesday, with a hard closing date set for July 28 at 11:59 pm.
The intersection of Mileground Road, Cheat Road and Point Marion Road will be closed due to construction of a new interchange.
Also known as the “Easton Hill Project,” the interchange will make a more direct drive onto Mileground Road, avoiding the “bottleneck” caused by commuters turning onto Mileground Road and cut down on traffic significantly.
Don Williams, District Manager from the West Virginia DOH, said that the goal is to have traffic back on the road in two weeks.
“The goal was to have the intersection open before the start of the school year at WVU and we’re going to be pushing that very closely,” Williams said.
In the meantime, the DOH is offering alternative routes for traffic to get into Morgantown, with detours offered at Exit 4 on I-68 in Sabraton, Canyon Road through Cheat Road on the other side of the intersection and Exit 155 on I-79 in Star City.
There will also be police officers to help guide traffic through the five intersections, including the intersection of Canyon Road and Point Marion Road on Route 119, the intersections on Stewartstown Road and West Run, and in Suncrest. Williams recommends normal traffic and any WVU traffic to use the Sabraton detour.
“It will be well marked,” Williams said. “There’ll be message board signs all over I-68. They can go that route and there’ll be detour signs on how to get to the location they want to go.”
The DOH also addressed the inevitable truck traffic that goes through Morgantown on a regular basis. While Williams stated that the Canyon Road detour can technically be used for truck traffic, it’s highly recommended that truck drivers take the Sabraton detour to get into town.
“Canyon Road can handle truck traffic actually, but we’re afraid of it slowing down a lot of the traffic because it’s a slower route,” Williams said.
Incentives were negotiated if the project gets done earlier than scheduled and disincentives for delays. The interchange is expected to be completed by August 11.