MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — It appears that supply chain issues related to the installation of temporary traffic signals on both off-ramps for Exit 155 on Interstate 79 have caused another delay.

Morgantown Monongalia Metropolitan Planning Organization Executive Director Bill Austin announced that traffic signals that would be located at the off-ramps intersecting Chaplin Hill Road, aimed to be installed by August, will experience a delay due to supply chain-related issues. This comes after a meeting with representatives from the West Virginia Department of Highways, where he was told that the design phase is close to completion, with the only delay caused by the need to get certain pieces of equipment for the signals themselves.

“While the goal is to get it there prior to WVU classes starting, the people are concerned,” said Austin. “The DOH folks and their consultants are concerned that they won’t be able to get the actual signal heads and the controllers in place for that project by that time.”

The installation of the Exit 155 off-ramp traffic signals is a precursor to a planned overhaul of the interchange that’s supported by state and federal funds.

According to Austin, the $700,000 needed to fund the installation of the traffic signals is already in place, as well as support from the DOH to move forward. The funds were supported based on conversations with representatives from Mylan Park, the Monongalia County Board of Education, and area business owners who discussed traffic that led to backups all the way onto I-79, depending on if an event was hosted at Mylan Park or somewhere around the University Town Center. With several members of the MMMPO on board, along with the DOH, the self-funding of the traffic signals was an easy decision to make for the organization.

“It’s been taking so long to get that interchange reconstructed, which I do believe is coming and will come maybe sooner than we think, but it is worthwhile for safety reasons,” said Austin on why the temporary traffic signals are needed.

The installation of the temporary traffic signals is aimed to be a precursor for the large-scale reconfiguration of the Exit 155 interchange. The approximately $110 million project will reconfigure the interchange to allow for an expanded number of vehicles to pass through the area where not only Mylan Park and University Town Center are located but also the still-developing WestRidge Business Park. Added to the need to address infrastructure that is now several decades old, the traffic signals will allow for traffic to flow at a reasonable pace as plans for the interchange continue to develop.

“The concrete is old, and it just needs to be replaced, and also, operationally, the traffic kind of overwhelms,” said Austin. “Especially with everything that’s been going on in Mylan Park and also, of course, University Town Center and what’s going on with WestRidge.”

With plans to have the installation of the Exit 155 off-ramp traffic signals project out to bid by the end of the summer, the hope is to have signals installed by the end of 2025. This will then be followed by the next phases of the Exit 155 Interchange Project itself, which is still in line to receive a $50 million National Infrastructure Project Assistance MEGA Grant on a federal level. With all parties still on board and the process still ongoing with the interchange project, outside of the traffic signals, Austin and the MMMPO hope to see all the steps needed to make it a reality continue to take place.

“That project is moving forward and with the DOH, I just met with their design team, and they believe that they should be able to get the design to the point where they could put the project out to bid this summer,” said Austin.