MORGANTOWN – The body that steers transportation planning for the greater Morgantown area has updated its long-range vision for vehicle and pedestrian mobility.
During its most recent meeting, the Morgantown Monongalia Metropolitan Planning Organization Policy Board amended the area’s Metropolitan Transportation Plan, a federally mandated document that envisions transportation improvements over the next 30 years.
Changes to the plan revolve primarily around adding the recommendations of the multi-year downtown microsimulation study – a $500,000 undertaking spearheaded by the MPO in conjunction with consultant Kimley-Horn.
Study recommendations included as Tier 1, or top priority projects, are: The elimination of vehicle traffic on University Avenue through WVU’s downtown campus in the area known as Grumbein’s Island ($9 million); the realignment of Willey Street to Snider Street ($15 million); coordination and optimization of the downtown signal system, including leading pedestrian intervals at crossings ($3 million).
Included as a Tier 3 addition is a bundle of downtown area intersection and corridor projects, including: Conversion of the Beechurst Avenue/8th Street intersection to a roundabout; conversion of the Stewart Street/Protzman Street intersection to a roundabout; intersection improvements (potential roundabout) at the University Avenue/Pleasant Street intersection; conversion of Beechurst Avenue to a reduced conflict intersection corridor, where left-turn movements from minor streets are redirected to adjacent intersections as U-turns.
While the body approved the update to the MTP, the decision was not unanimous. The vote went 9-3, with Brian Carr, Steve Blinco and Tom Bloom voting in the minority. Their opposition was tied exclusively to the implementation of Grumbein’s Island component.
Carr, who represented the West Virginia Division of Highways on the board, said his issue isn’t with the project per se, but the order in which it’s being prioritized.
“I see these items that were in the study – signal timing, Snider Street, Grumbein’s – all in Tier 1, but the improvements along Beechurst Avenue are in Tier 3. I’m not sure, sequentially, that you close Grumbein’s Island until you get these other pieces in place. Because I can tell you, just my two outside cents worth, you close Grumbien’s Island before you get the other parts in place, you are going to have a major problem,” he said.
While the argument is framed somewhat differently, Carr’s concerns are similar to those raised by Bloom – specifically that the closure of Grumbein’s Island would push heavy traffic to Campus Drive and largely concentrate all north/south movement into and out of the city’s downtown to Beechurst/University Avenue.
“It’s just illogical,” he said.
Others have countered that a significant portion of the traffic flow problems on Beechurst and other streets in and around the city’s downtown can be tied directly to the constant traffic jams that radiate out from Grumbein’s Island.
It was also noted that while the addition of the projects into the MTP represents a commitment to get them accomplished, there’s still a lot of work to be done and details to be fleshed out.
While WVU President Michael Bension’s name never came up, he’s identified the Grumbein’s Island closure as a priority of his administration since taking office in July. The full backing of the university adds significant push for changes that have been discussed for years with little movement.
“We understand that the planning process for actually implementing this is going to go on for a while,” MPO Executive Director Bill Austin said. “And so, we’re not wedded to Tier 1 – it would be nice – but from what we’ve heard from a lot of folks, it is a priority to get these things done.”
Policy Board Chairman Russ Rogerson said the investment into the microsimulation was made to identify what projects are feasible and worth exploring.
“I think it’s safe to say that the simulation study has proven that it’s worth the next step and taking a look at,” Rogerson said. “And that’s when we start really getting into this. I believe this is a first step of a couple more down the road that we’ll have to deal with before there’s really a concrete plan, and timing, and funding identified. So, it’s great to say that we can at least validate in the study that it works, and now the journey begins to figure out how to make it work.”
