BECKLEY, W.Va. — Highways officials are looking at all options of safety when it comes to the work zones on the West Virginia Turnpike expansion project near Beckley.
Parkways General Manager Greg Barr said state highway officials have been meeting to figure out how to make the zone safer. State police reporter there were 95 speeding tickets written there in September.
The project drops the speed limit on the eight-mile stretch from 70 to 55 but Barr remains worried.
“We still have two lanes of free-flowing traffic but the lanes are only ten feet wide instead of 12 and the shoulders are only two feet and median walls are blocking it all it. When people get beside big trucks, it’s nerve-wracking,” Barr said to MetroNews.
Two additional lanes are being added on the turnpike in Beckley between the Route 19 interchange and I-64/I-77 split. Barr said the project is currently in Phase I of three phases but he has been told Phase II will be here before winter.
Barr adds while officials have told him moving on to Phase II of the project could alleviate some of the concerns, they still must act on slowing vehicles down.
“We are going to put out more changeable message signs to warn people that fines are doubled in the work zone,” he said. “We are going to look at the potential use of rumble strips as you approach the project and the speed limit is dropping from 70 to 55.”