photo by: Emma Delk

Moundsville City Council members Randy Chamberlain, left, and Dennis Hall consider a proposal to route truck traffic off Jefferson Avenue during an early July Moundsville Traffic Subcommittee meeting.

Moundsville City Manager Rick Healy proposed a resolution for the West Virginia Department of Transportation to route truck traffic off Jefferson Avenue during an early July Moundsville Traffic Subcommittee meeting.

Instead of turning onto Seventh Street, Healy said trucks would be directed to stay straight on Route 2 to keep them off of Jefferson Avenue.

“I think we all thought that getting truck traffic away from the downtown would be the next natural thing to happen after the completion of the new bridge at Parr’s Run with the heavier weight limit,” Healy said.

Healy said the trucks headed westbound on Jefferson Avenue were the “biggest issue.” He added that the proposal was motivated by complaints from downtown businesses and customers that the heavy truck traffic in the area had made it “difficult and scary to shop in.”

Healy said when he first proposed the idea to former WVDOH District 6 Superintendent Charlie Reynolds, he was told the change “would never happen” and to “just forget about it.” Healy believes the council now needs to push to route traffic off the avenue, including discussing the idea with state Delegate Jeffrey Stephens, R-Marshall.

“Stephens is happy to talk to and is actually in discussion already with the Department of Highways about our unofficial request and the best way for us to move forward with it,” Healy said. “He understands that we’d like to pass a resolution, but he did say we should get more legwork done first. When we get to the point when we’re ready for official council action, I think we can bring it back to the state.”

Healy said he would continue to work with Stephens and the WVDOH on the proposal so that when the council was ready to take official action on the matter, they would be ready to bring it to the parties.

Council members voiced their agreement with the path forward for the resolution Healy proposed. Councilman Randy Chamberlain said that even though they were told the truck traffic reroute was not going to happen by Reynolds, he would “like to think that there’s always hope” to pursue the matter.

Healy agreed, adding that if truck drivers could be “convinced” to use the extension, it would not “cost them a lot more miles of time out of their way,” while still keeping the trucks “out of our downtown.”

Traffic subcommittee member Councilman Dennis Hall noted that “a lot of the problem” was truck drivers following their GPS to take them onto Jefferson Avenue.

Councilwoman Ginger DeWitt said detour signs could be posted to notify truck drivers of the change. She added that truck drivers may prefer using the alternate route as they would not have to be on the “skinny road” of Jefferson Avenue and would avoid more stop lights and stop signs.

“I think we could all benefit from that,” Healy said. “This is not going to happen overnight, but we have to start at some point and begin that conversation. I think we’re just going to try to continue that conversation as we move forward.”

Healy said there would be no action on the matter for the time being as they continued to work on the proposal with the state. He said the matter would be brought back to the traffic subcommittee “when we believe the time is right to present a resolution.”