MORGANTOWN — In the five-year span between 2019 and 2023, more than 10% of all vehicle crashes in the metropolitan area occurred on the roughly 3.5 mile stretch of WV 705 between Monongahela Boulevard and the Mileground roundabout.
That’s 962 of 9,409 total wrecks.
In that same stretch of time, the intersection at the top of that segment – Monongahela Boulevard and Patteson Drive – saw 141 accidents; the most of any intersection.
Second on that list?
The intersection of Monongahela Boulevard and Boyers Avenue, with 110.
This is a very small sampling of the data compiled by the Morgantown Monongalia Metropolitan Planning Organization in preparation for an update to the MPO’s Metropolitan Transportation Plan. It’s expected that update will be presented to the MPO Policy Board at its January 2026 meeting.
“We will use the report to identify new hot spots and verify hotspots that have already been identified,” MPO Executive Director Bill Austin said.
The stated purpose of the report is to comprehensively document regional crash trends, crash locations and crash types.
Overall, the number of crashes occurring locally is trending steadily downward.
If you identify 2020 as an outlier due to COVID lockdowns, the number of total crashes across the five-year study is: 2,293 (2019); 1,499 (2020); 2,079 (2021); 1,836 (2022); 1,698 (2023).
The number of injury crashes in the study period dropped from 500 to 395 and the number of vehicle versus pedestrian/bicyclist crashes fell from 25 in 2019 to 10 in 2023.
The numbers are based on police reports compiled by the West Virginia Division of Highways.
Austin said the MPO credits a few factors when considering the decline in vehicle accidents.
“Traffic volumes have not completely returned to pre-pandemic numbers due to such factors as increased telecommuting. There have been improvements to vehicle technology such as vehicles with automatic braking to avoid incidents. WVDOH and the area’s cities and towns have made operational improvements to area intersections and streets that have improved safety. Examples include WVDOH’s Beechurst Avenue improvement project and the city of Morgantown’s improvements to University Avenue in the vicinity of the WVU Law School,” Austin explained.
The top five travel corridors by number of crashes 2019-2023 are:
- WV 705 (Monongahela Boulevard to Mileground Road) 962
- Mileground Rd./Cheat Rd. (WV 705 to I-68 Exit 7) 427
- WV 7 Earl Core Rd. (Mineral Avenue to Brookhaven Road) 313
- University Ave. (Patteson Drive to Willey Street) 312
- Fairmont Rd./Holland Ave. (Westover Bridge to Mall Road) 301
The top five intersections by number of crashes (2019-2023) are:
- Monongahela Boulevard and Patteson Drive – 141
- Monongahela Boulevard and Boyers Avenue – 110
- WV 705 (Patteson Drive) and Stewartstown Road – 99
- WV 705 (Patteson Drive) and University Avenue – 80
- WV 705 (Chestnut Ridge Road) and Willowdale Road – 80
The top five areas of special concern (minor streets with high crash frequencies 2019-2023) are:
- University Towne Centre Dr. (Emmett Drive to I-79 Exit 153) – 194
- Van Voorhis Rd. (West Run Road to Burroughs Street) – 102
- The intersection of Hampton Avenue/Darst Street/Richwood Avenue – 72
- West Run Rd. (St. Clair Hill Road to Stewartstown Road) – 60
- Canyon Rd. (Canyon School Road to Canyon Village) – 32
