Bus drivers 'scared to death' over Green Bag roundabouts

Mar. 16—MORGANTOWN — Nineteen school bus drivers signed their names to a letter asking the West Virginia Division of Highways to reconsider its plan to build roundabouts on Green Bag Road.

"We are a group of concerned school bus drivers who drive this route in Morgantown daily, " the letter opens. "Some of us drive this route six times a day. We know what we are talking about when we say a roundabout—let alone two roundabouts—are not safe here."

The letter is about the opening phase of what's planned to be a multi-step process addressing the entirety of Green Bag Road.

Among other improvements, Phase I will widen a portion of the road and build two roundabouts—one at the intersection of Green Bag and Kingwood Pike /Dorsey Avenue and another at the intersection with Mississippi Street.

This work has already been funded.

According to The Dominion Post archive, the project is estimated at $19 million—including $3 million in right-of-way improvements in the previous fiscal year and $16 million in construction in the current fiscal year 2025.

The Dominion Post reached out to the DOH for an update on the project but did not receive a response.

Bert Kessler has been driving a school bus in Monongalia County for the last six years or so. He estimated some 30 buses go through that area daily coming to and /or from South Middle School, Morgantown High School and the Monongalia County Technical Education Center.

"I don't necessarily understand why it's always roundabouts that are needed. If they want to do something to help traffic flow, widen out the road and put in turning lanes, " Kessler said, noting his major concern is about the length of the construction process and how buses will be detoured.

He said drivers have been told traffic, including the eight buses that travel Kingwood Pike daily, will be detoured onto Aarons Creek.

"I drove the Aarons Creek bus for a few months last year. It wasn't too bad because there's not a lot of traffic on that road. Then one day there was an accident on the Pike, and they sent all the traffic to Aarons Creek, " he said. "It's not wide enough to pass. I was pretty much stuck sitting there with all that traffic coming at me. That's going to be every day. It's not going to work."

To put the Green Bag Road project in context, the Morgantown Monongalia Metropolitan Planning Organization conducted a study of the route in 2014-15. The study looked at the entire corridor, including the operation of the Kingwood Pike and Mississippi Street intersections. It indicated both fail to adequately move vehicles during high traffic times.

In the years that followed, the conversation picked up considerably once it became known that roundabouts were a major component of the state's prescribed solution.

In a 2020 guest editorial for The Dominion Post, MPO Executive Director Bill Austin explained the reasoning for traffic circles.

"The WVDOH's preliminary engineering study explored this aspect of the project in depth and found that installing a roundabout would make traveling the corridor significantly quicker than signals would. The roundabout alternative is also safer than signals, since there can be no "T-bone " accidents in a roundabout. The WVDOH engineering study also shows that, unlike traffic signals, a roundabout can be constructed at a lower cost to taxpayers and does not require displacing a business or a residence."

But they will require land.

Members of the Hastings family operate a community garden on their property at the intersection of Green Bag and Kingwood Pike. They rallied the community against the plan, ultimately prompting the DOH to conduct an environmental study for a project it initially said was exempt from such consideration.

That study opened a public comment opportunity that the state ended up extending due to the amount of community feedback received.

In early 2022, the DOH issued its findings—the project would have no significant environmental impact.

It did, however, require funding for community gardens as a means of addressing the loss of the Hastings property. A grant process to that end is currently open for applications. Information is available on the MPO's website, plantogether.org.

But the Hastings family isn't the only property owner to be impacted.

The Mississippi Street roundabout will require about two acres of property owned by the city of Morgantown.

That is the location of the city's maintenance and public works garage.

Hollie Gregory, with the city's communication office, said the project has the city's full support.

"The roundabout's design mitigates any significant impacts on flow of traffic in and out of the city garage. Additionally, plans to renovate the city garage have taken potential impacts to the property into consideration, " she explained.

According to Kessler and the letter, signed "The School Bus Drivers of Monongalia and Preston County, " not everyone shares the city's enthusiasm for the changes.

"We are scared to death ... We are against it, " the letter states. "Please consider turning lanes as a less impactful alternative. If we can't stop the project, let's at least work together to choose a solution everyone can agree on. Anything but this roundabout—please."