SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Plans to reconfigure an intersection in South Charleston which is often a traffic headache are being adjusted. The state Division of Highways confirmed the change Thursday with plans to take an additional 20 homes in the area of Jefferson Road and Kanawha Turnpike.
“Our idea was to have a wall around that overpass and for some of the residents in the area, that wasn’t pleasing to them,” said DOH Communications Specialist Carrie Jones. “They would rather just have their property taken than continue to live there with the new configuration.”
The adjustment came after highway planners got feedback from the residents after the original plans were presented during a public workshop in July. The taking of the additional property is the only change to the idea, but it will enable the aesthetics of the property to be improved.
“Now we will not have to build the walls and it will be a little more green around there and we’ll have more room to work,” said Jones. “We won’t have to worry about interfering with those homes anymore.”
The change will make it possible to create a hiking/biking trail under the proposed overpass.
Although it’s a change those who will be impacted have requested, it’s still a change and by law Jones said that requires another public meeting.
“We’re going to share all of this with the public in an upcoming meeting,” she said. “We don’t have a date set yet, we’re hoping sometime in February, but again because there are changes we always have to go back to the public with those.”
Jefferson Road is now mostly a two-lane road from its intersection with MacCorkle Ave. (U.S. Route 60) and Corridor G (U.S. Route 119). The work would widen the road to four lanes, construct an overpass and roundabout at the intersection with Kanawha Turnpike.
Three years of crash data from 2013 to 2015 saw 6.56 crashes per million vehicles traveled in the area, compared to a state average of 1.63 for similar roads, according to the DOH.
At the July meeting, DOH engineers said the preferred option would require 35 residential relocations. The changes would take that number to more than 50.