West Virginia Working to Correct I-79 Drainage Safety Issue

The West Virginia Division of Highways is working to correct an Interstate 79 drainage problem that police say is a safety hazard.

The DOH has closed the northbound left lane in the Anmoore area due to water ponding on the interstate. The agency also has cut a hole in the barrier to allow water to flow into a drop inlet. The agency plans to add a second drop inlet, DOH District 4 engineer Ray Urse told The Exponent Telegram.

“There has been a water ponding issue that starts on the shoulder and encroaches into the fast lane,” Urse said.

He said the DOH plans to repave the 2-mile section to correct the drainage problem, along with dip and elevation issues. The project is expected to completed by the end of next week.

The section is part of a widening project completed in May 2012 that extended from the off-ramp at Anmoore to U.S. 50.

“It’s an issue whenever it rains,” Trooper 1st Class. M.A. Bailey told the newspaper. “There has been an increase in accidents with us and the sheriff’s department since they widened the road.”

“I think when they widened the road out, they didn’t do the drainage properly,” he said.

Bailey said the drainage problem needs to be corrected.

“If it’s cold enough and that water drains across the road, that can turn to ice, and that can cause even more accidents than the rain,” he said.

“If it’s black ice, you can’t see it; it blends in with the road.”