WV DOH map of bypass project
UPDATED April 3 with DOH Bypass project map
by KATE SHUNNEY
The West Virginia Division of Highways (DOH) has set a public meeting on April 19 to gather comments and offer project details about a proposed U.S. 522 bypass around Berkeley Springs and a connector road from U.S. 522 to Fairview Drive toward War Memorial Hospital.
A legal notice about the meeting will be published in the next two editions of The Morgan Messenger.
The bypass project was one of 15 Morgan County projects that highway officials said are planned and county be funded through a special Road Bond, which voters approved during an October 2017 special election.
According to the DOH, the bypass project would involve reconstructing U.S. 522 as a four-lane highway around Berkeley Springs at a cost of roughly $40 million. The long-planned and debated bypass would begin at Winchester Grade Road and end at Sandmine Road, according to the DOH meeting announcement.
Construction of a two-lane connector road between U.S. 522 and Fairview Drive in the area of War Memorial Hospital is expected to cost $6 million. That roadway was been on the drawing board for more than a decade.
DOH officials will hold an information meeting on Thursday, April 19 at Berkeley Springs High School from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. No formal presentations by highways officials will be made, but information packets will be available to attendees. The public will have a chance to ask questions and give written comments on the project.
Information about the project will also be posted on the West Virginia DOH website, and comments can be submitted through that website and by mail through Monday, May 21. At press time, project information was not posted on the state website.
