Officials in Monongalia County, West Virginia, recently secured a three-party collaboration agreement to successfully fund the upcoming $135 million Star City Interchange Improvement Project. Construction is expected to begin in late 2026.
The project represents the first phase of the larger Western Monongalia Gateways initiative, consisting of a series of infrastructure improvements to improve road quality, mobility, congestion and safety. Features in the initiative will include shared-use paths, replaced bridges, connections to rail trails and flyovers.
The Star City Interchange Improvement Project centers around making significant improvements to the Chaplin Hill Road corridor and Interstate 79. This area has been identified as an outdated roadway contributing to a crash rate that is 50% higher than the statewide average. The existing infrastructure no longer accommodates the area, suffering from poor conditions, inadequate travel opportunities and an incapability to handle increased traffic levels.
There will be two construction contracts issued for the project. The first contract will cover the replacement of the I-79 bridges. The new bridges over Chaplin Hill Road will rectify the deteriorating conditions of the original bridges, complying with modern standards and regulations.
The second contract will cover much more ground along Chaplin Hill Road. The county will start by converting the interchange to a diverging diamond design. The project will also build a westbound flyover at the Chaplin Hill Road and US 19/WV 7 intersection. Additional work will consist of widening Chaplin Hill Road to six lanes, building multi-modal facilities, installing a roundabout and modifying the Star City Bridge and bridge over Scotts Run.
The county will also reconstruct the Exit 155 interchange, completely reconfiguring it to better mitigate congestion. Finally, plans include building a pedestrian and bicycle connection between the Star City Bridge and the regional rail-to-trail network.
Photo by Oregon Department of Transportation, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, from Wikimedia Commons
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