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Tag Archive: Harmony Grove

  1. Harmony Grove construction to begin in 2025-’26 fiscal year

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    MORGANTOWN — Gov. Jim Justice and the West Virginia Division of Highways have already said construction of a $70 million bridge across the Monongahela River will begin in spring 2024.

    It now looks as if construction of the new $30 million Harmony Grove interchange could begin as early as July 2025.

    During Thursday’s meeting of the Morgantown Monongalia Metropolitan Planning Organization Policy Board, three Transportation Improvement Program amendments were approved.

    All three pertained to the Harmony Grove project, including: $3.7 million in engineering work to be done in the current fiscal year; $550,000 in right-of-way acquisition in FY 2024-’25; and $25 million in construction in FY 2025-’26.

    Both the new bridge and Harmony Grove projects, totaling $100 million based on current estimates, are intended to provide better interstate access to Mountaintop Beverage and the wider Morgantown Industrial Park area.

    MPO Executive Director Bill Austin said the TIP amendments were being made at the DOH’s request.

    Inclusion in the TIP is mandatory for use of federal transportation dollars. The TIP process serves as a mechanism to ensure local support for federally funded projects.

    “For the DOH to use federal funds, they need to be approved by our policy board in the transportation improvement program. If the policy board doesn’t approve it, they cannot use federal funds,” Austin explained.

    However, unlike most transportation projects, a majority of the funding for the Harmony Grove interchange will ultimately be generated locally.

    The process was spelled out in a September 2020 memorandum of understanding between the Monongalia County Commission, Enrout Properties, and the West Virginia Department of Transportation.

    The MOU explains that in addition to extending infrastructure into the expanded industrial park, increment from the creation of the MIP Harmony Grove TIF district will be used to reimburse the state for the interchange.

    This is the same process the county and developer WestRidge used to construct I-79’s Exit 153. That project was completed for $22 million in 2016 and paid off by mid-2020, according to The Dominion Post archive.

    County Commissioner and policy board member Sean Sikora said the county and the developer will have to iron out the details of the Harmony Grove repayment with the state.

    Joe Statler, representing Blacksville on the policy board, requested the parties do so sooner rather than later.

    “I would hope that question and conversation won’t slow this project up,” he said. “Don’t stop this project for anything.”

    Original Article by Ben Conley, The Dominion Post

  2. Capito, Manchin, McKinley Offer support of Harmony Grove Interchange Project

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    MORGANTOWN — The push for approval of the new Harmony Grove interchange has gone federal.

    In an April 27 letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Senators Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito and Congressman David McKinley requested the review and approval of the Interchange Justification Report that will allow the project to move forward.

    The letter explains the interchange would allow direct interstate access to the Morgantown Industrial Park and references, without naming it, the Mountaintop Beverage facility currently under construction.

    That facility, which is expected to be operational in November, brings with it more than $200 million in clean manufacturing investments and several hundred jobs, according to the letter. It’s also expected to bring up to 100 trucks to the park on a daily basis.

    But that, Monongalia County Commission President Tom Bloom explained, is just the beginning.

    “What the public needs to understand is, we have two companies that want to expand and other companies that want to move in, and all they need to hear is this major project is moving forward,” Bloom said. “We’re thrilled that not only our federal representatives, but also the governor and the state, are working with us to request this interchange.”

    Capito followed up on the letter Thursday when she asked Buttigieg about the interchange specifically during a subcommittee hearing to review the U.S. Department of Transportation’s 2023 budget request.

    “If safety’s your priority, this is a safety issue because of the business park that is associated, which is growing, and you know, that’s been difficult for us to be able to grow in our state,” Capito told Buttigieg. “We’re excited about the possibilities here, but it would take a lot of truck traffic out of those local areas. So, I just want to put that on your radar screen again and hope you can take a look at that.”

    The current working price estimate for the interchange is $41.6 million, though that number is believed to be on the high side. The actual cost in state and/or federal dollars would be $10 million, with the new Morgantown Industrial Park TIF district paying down the rest.

    Bloom said the local investment in the project coupled with the amount of economic development it promises to deliver make it a “win, win” in terms of federal infrastructure dollars.

    “We’re just very, very excited about this project,” he said.

     

    Original Article by Ben Conley on dominionpost.com, April 28, 2022

    Original Article Here

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