Morgantown, West Virginia has proposed to have the first triple incline entry roundabout in the country. What is a triple incline entry roundabout, you ask? It’s just like the roundabout we have coming off of the Mileground except as a driver you would have to use a series of mirrors due to lack of visibility from the other incline entries.
For a long time, we have had traffic congestion at the intersection of Point Marion Road, Canyon Road and Stewartstown Road, the general consensus is the congestion is only going to get worse due to the housing growth in Stewartstown. The obvious answer is a roundabout to alleviate the traffic issue. Bids are being taken by the state and as of now it is thought that the project could take 9 months in the best-case scenario. Unfortunately for the folks that live out in Point Marion, Stewartstown and Lake Lynn area would have to take a detour while construction is going on. The two routes proposed are
1. Coming through West Run Road to Baker’s Ridge Road which would let traffic back on to Point Marion Road out by the BFS passed University High School.
2. Getting off I-68 at Exit 10 in Cheat Lake and heading up US-43 and getting off at the Gans exit and hop on US-119 and come through Point Marion. This will dramatically increase traffic noticeably on Bakers Ridge Road. The city plans to add 27 speed bumps to impede people from speeding through residential areas.
A couple hiccups but the city should be able to navigate around them. Unfortunately, there is a longhair coyote migrating path that goes straight through the proposed construction site. P.E.T.A. is protesting the proposal due to the dwindling coyote population. The other issue is the city’s insurance provider states that there could be significant wrecks due to the blind entries to the roundabout.
Morgantown is pushing hard for this roundabout and a couple others that are heavily being protested. Final date to accept bids for construction is April 20th, 2025. Construction to start on June 1st, 2025.
