MORGANTOWN – From Walnut Street work impacting traffic through the heart of Morgantown, to the completion of Westover’s Holland Avenue project, to the long-awaited federal signoff on a new Harmony Grove interchange, there was no shortage of transportation-related stories in 2025.
Interstate Access
After nearly a decade of discussion between local stakeholders and county, state and federal officials, the word came down in late November that the Federal Highway Administration had signed off on the Interchange Justification Report for a new Harmony Grove interchange.
The project, estimated in the $40 million range, is to include a new interchange on I-79 between the I-79/I-68 split (148) and the Westover exit (152) at mile marker 151, where I-79 intersects with River Road.
The state is currently advertising for engineering consulting services for the project, which it describes as a “tight diamond interchange with roundabouts” requiring the construction of a new multi-span bridge and retaining walls.
The new interchange will provide direct access between I-79 and the Morgantown Industrial Park.
It was promised by the state to help land the massive Mountaintop Beverage facility in West Virginia. The 330,000 square-foot plant began production in the industrial park’s upper expansion in 2023.
Meanwhile, a new access road and bridge connecting U.S. 119 (Grafton Road) to the lower industrial park is currently under construction for $59.7 million. The state has indicated that project will be wrapping up next winter.
But Harmony Grove wasn’t the only interchange getting headlines in 2025.
In July, the West Virginia Division of Highways, Monongalia County Commission and developer WestRidge signed off on a three-way agreement spelling out how the $135 million overhaul of I-79 Exit 155 will be financed.
About half the cost — $67.2 million – will be provided by the state. Roughly 40%, or $54.3 million, will come through the U.S. Department of Transportation MEGA Grant awarded in 2024, and the final 10%, totaling approximately $13.5 million, will be provided locally by WestRidge and the county.
That project will include new bridges carrying I-79 over Chaplin Hill Road, a new divergent diamond interchange, a westbound flyover at the intersection of Chaplin Hill and U.S. Route 19 to help clear traffic leaving Morgantown and a multi-modal path from the rail-trail in Star City to The Gateway.
While no project timeline has been offered publicly, the federal grant comes with a 2028 deadline, meaning those dollars will likely be spent first.
Two sets of temporary traffic lights are expected at the exit’s entrance and exit ramps by September at a cost of $566,898.60.
Holland Avenue
Every year-in-review story involving the city of Westover in recent memory has started with the city’s efforts to address the broken down sewer and stormwater infrastructure impacting Holland Avenue.
This was the year it got, mostly, done.
Blue Gold Development was awarded the Holland Avenue contract for $2,958,025 in September 2024. Work began in March to dig up and replace 3,200 feet of stormwater line and 2,700 of sanitary sewer line beneath the problematic stretch U.S. 19.
By September, the project was complete and a temporary road surface was in place.
But there’s more work coming.
A significant state project to address the surface is planned for 2026.
According to information shared with Westover City Council, the section of road surface between the Westover Bridge and Paula’s on top of the hill will be pulled up along with the underlying bricks and completely reconstructed.
That section is just one portion of a larger project that will include a new surface deck for the Westover Bridge and a new surface for U.S. 19 from the bridge on one end of the city to the interstate on the other, according to DOH District 4 leadership.
Grumbein’s Island
There was a lot of talk about Grumbein’s Island in 2025.
The congested mesh point of University Avenue’s vehicle traffic and WVU’s foot traffic in the heart of the university’s downtown campus has been studied, discussed and debated for decades – but there’s never been as much unified momentum pushing for significant changes than there is right now.
Specifically, those changes involve closing that section of road and rerouting traffic.
It was a talking point in WVU President Michael Benson’s first State of the University Address.
“As I come out of Stewart Hall every day and I watch students try to navigate University [Avenue], it needs to be closed. It needs to be made into a pedestrian mall and traffic needs to be diverted,” Benson said. “I’ve been told that we’ve been trying this for 30 years. I don’t care. We are going to do it, and we need the support of our county and our city.”
Some of that support has already been formalized.
In November, the Morgantown Monongalia Metropolitan Planning Organization made the elimination of vehicle traffic at Grumbein’s Island a Tier 1 priority as part of an update to its federally mandated Metropolitan Transportation Plan.
It was included based on the recommendation of a $500,000, multi-year microsimulation study of the city’s downtown and surrounding area.
The closure of Grumbein’s Island is currently listed as a $9 million project.
Walnut Street
As one of the four one-way streets that carries traffic through downtown Morgantown, the reduction of Walnut Street to a single lane between Spruce and High streets for most of 2025 drew plenty of attention.
The $1,203,349 streetscape project began in early February, when contractor Blue Gold Development blocked the right travel lane and corresponding sidewalk.
A short time later, progress abruptly stopped, leaving the worksite in the heart of the city’s downtown idle for months – frustrating motorists, pedestrians and, particularly, Walnut Street business owners – while the DOH and contractor puzzled out redesigns due to unforeseen issues tied to building utilities and structural supports in at least two of the underground vaults that extend below the sidewalks.
The streetscape project, which included improved lighting and sidewalks, was originally slated for completion prior to WVU’s fall semester. The timeline was later extended to November.
