MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Residents from the North Hills neighborhood have concerns about the state of Alpine Street and hope county officials can help address them.
Homeowners and young professionals each spoke in front of the Monongalia County Commission at their regular meeting Wednesday, where they called for swift action to address the road located a short drive from Mon General Hospital. Residents described a situation where vehicles that drive on Alpine Street are in near-undrivable situations that only get worse in the winter.
“As it stands, certain vehicles can’t pass through at any time of the year, but in the winter, it’s virtually impassable by any vehicle,” said Alpine Street resident Derek Jackson, who addressed the commission. “Regardless, four-wheel drive, truck, or car, it doesn’t matter,” he said.
The current state of Alpine Street stems from several factors, according to residents who spoke during the public portion of the committee’s meeting. The once heavily trafficked road was the primary entrance point for other residents in the North Hills neighborhood before conditions drastically changed, which is made worse during rainstorms due to a lack of drainage. In the winter, due to the location of the street away from any direct sunlight, the roads get to the point where utility companies are unwilling to serve customers.
“I know that the people that we have, they have a really hard time, you know, passing through those roads as well in emergencies” said Alpine Street Resident Hisham Kohona, who also works with Hope Gas. “I think it would be very beneficial for everybody to have that road fixed up,” he said.
Preliminary engineering reports and cost estimates to fix Alpine Street have already been gathered by Jackson, who reported the total costs to be around $140,000. He stated to the commission that other residents have said they would financially contribute to fixing the road, despite part of Alpine Street being under the jurisdiction of the West Virginia Department of Highways. Jackson hopes for more financial contributions once the sale of a neighboring apartment complex is settled.
“I was able to get the residents to commit $1,000 per property, and then there’s an apartment building that sits on that road too, and they agreed to commit somewhere in the $3,500-$5,000 range,” said Jackson on the current amount of community contributions. “My understanding is either it has been sold or it’s under some sort of contingent offer, maybe they (the new owners) will be open to the idea,” he said.
The Monongalia County Commission stated that they hope to get in contact with the DOH to discuss Alpine Street as part of the Orphan Road Grant Program. The Commission will have the opportunity to match the financial contributions from residents with an opportunity for state funding to be thrown in to address the DOH-run part of the road. Options for the commission and Alpine Street residents are expected to be explored in the coming months.
“The DOH has been part of our orphan road process; that’s still an avenue that we haven’t even opened those conversations yet, so we’ll certainly do that,” said Commissioner Sean Sikora.