FAIRMONT, W.Va. — The City of Fairmont and the state Division of Highways have developed a plan to improve traffic flow at a very complicated intersection—New Street, Water Street, East Park Avenue, Merchant Street and Morgantown Avenue.
Fairmont City Manager Travis Blosser said the plan includes reopening the turn lane onto New Street that was following a traffic signal upgrade in 2024. The plan adds signage and pavement markings to improve vehicle and pedestrian safety.
“It’s a very inexpensive solution; there aren’t a lot of resources needed, mainly just time and material,” Blosser said. “Some of this work we’ll do with a private contractor.”
Blosser said the city worked for a few months with the DOH and the entire Marion County state delegation including State Senator Mike Oliverio, Senator Joey Garcia, Delegate Phil Mallow, Delegate Rick Garcia, and Delegate Guy Ward.
“Everyone who lives here knows it’s always been a challenging intersection,” Blosser said. “It’s a very large intersection and a concern for pedestrian safety as well.”
DOH removed the installed plastic delineators this week to enable the next steps in the process. The work done in 2024 made it very difficult for boaters to access the docks at Palatine Park and also sparked rumors that the Three Rivers Festival would be canceled. The Three Rivers Festival WILL be held as planned this year.
“There are really nice boat docks that have been installed down at Palatine Park and are heavily utilized by the community,” Blosser said. “It’s a very big asset for the community, and it became an even more challenging intersection to get boats down there.”
With the delineators gone, Blosser said some of the work can be completed by their street department that has a staff of two. Contractors will be used for a portion of the work. For the last several months, Blosser said District 4 DOH manager Earl Gaskins has been available and very easy to work with to reach a solution.
“The removal of those existing delineators would happen in conjunction with getting the state assets out of the way so the city could mobilize and go in there and get this solution implemented,” Blosser said.
Blosser said working with any government agency can be a test of your patience—even working with the city of Fairmont. But solving this issue with the DOH has been about as smooth as any project he’s done with the DOH.
“Mr. (Earl) Gaskins (DOH District Manager) has been one of the easiest people I have ever had to work with,” Blosser said. “I do not always agree with him and he does not always agree with me, but the one thing I can say is he always responds to a text message and always returns a phone call.”