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MORGANTOWN, W. Va.–The Monongalia County Commission has announced plans to pursue a $95 million federal grant to improve the Star City exit near Mylan Park.
The commission will seek money from the newly created Nationally Significant Multimodal Freight & Highway Projects Grant program (INFRA).
Commission President Tom Bloom said the more than $60 million already committed to the new I-79 exit 155 would bring the total value of proposed improvements to more than $150 million.
“The I-79, Chaplin Hill Gateway project would upgrade the existing exit 155 interchange and adjacent roads as well as replace bridges that are in poor condition that limit highway capacity,” Bloom said.
The highway design is expected to reduce congestion at Monongahela Boulevard and Chaplin Road for rush hour hour commuters and high capacity events at Mylan Park and on the WVU campus.
“There’s a planned fly-over that would go from the Star City Bridge side westbound toward I-79,” Amy Stout with WestRidge Development said. “And that will greatly improve capacity and how traffic operates there, and also safety.”
If successful, the final product would be four-lane corridor between Mylan Park and Morgantown.
The project includes shared use paths along Chaplin Road and Monongahela Boulevard to ease mobility between the city and the Mylan Park complex. Officials said ceating new access points to the park is expected to make it easier for a wider cross section of the community to attend park events.
“In theory you could ride on your bike from downtown, get on the rail trail and from Star City get on the shared use path and make your way out to Mylan Park,” Stout said. “To attend a concert, to attend a game or some other activity.”
State Senator Charlie Clements, R-Wetzel, chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, is one of many officials that have written letters of support for the project. Clements believes the proposed exit 155 and enhanced connectivity to the city will benefit residents and visitors as much as it benefit the entire region economically.
“I will do everything I can to make sure these projects move forward,” Clements said. “Because they create one big thing- one big word in West Virginia and that is J-O-B-S and that’s what will move West Virginia forward.”