Effort to improve transportation in Bluefield moving ahead
City Manager Cecil Marson said Friday the meeting will start at 1:30 p.m. June 12 on the Bluefield State University campus. It will be conducted in the Othello Harris-Jefferson Student Center.
Information gleaned from the town hall will help determine how to spend a $1.2 million federal Reconnecting Communities grant. Reconnecting Communities is a program under the U.S. Department of Transportation.
'About two years ago we submitted an application for the Reconnecting Communities Grant,' Marson said. 'It's laser-focused on the northeast end of the city and what that does, it basically takes you from (Route) 52 where the Bluefield State University entryway is and takes you all the way through the northeast end past the Grant Street Bridge down past the Hotel Thelma.'
The project's goal is to improve transportation and safety between the university and Hotel Thelma, which is an historic Green Book lodging where Black travelers stayed during the segregation era.
'The whole premise behind this project is to connect that part of the city to the downtown and also rework the road infrastructure and streetscape, really clean up a lot of the stuff that borders Norfolk Southern (railyard) along that main drag of Pulaski Street, Hardy Street all the way up to Rock Street and up to the campus,' Marson said.
The city will work on the project in conjunction with the West Virginia Department of Highways. People attending the June 12 town hall will meet with highways officials and engineers working on the plan. Marson said the city wants as much community participation as possible.
'Because we're going to go in there, take all of the suggestions that have gotten us to this point, have some designs and schematics of what these roads could potentially look like and really, this plan grant is to get some of the engineering done and get everything prepped so this fall, we can submit for the implementation funding,' he said. 'And that's where we get the big money and hopefully, God willing, really get some of these projects down and revamp the northeast part of town and get the roads and infrastructure everybody deserves over there, and also help reinforce the college and give them a better entryway.'
Darrin Martin, president of Bluefield State University, said the project would make travel to and from the campus safer. Both the Route 52 and Rock Street entrances are difficult to use and hazardous at times.
'Obviously, you think about the entrance way to campus on both sides,' Martin said. 'This is going to make it safer for us and improve the flow of traffic.'
Students, faculty and visitors entering campus at Rock Street have to navigate a sharp turn. One goal would be make this curve 'softer,' Martin said. One part of the plan which includes a roundabout at the busy Route 52 entrance would make that entry point safer as well.
'It can get dicey,' he said. 'You can look and all of a sudden a car is on top of you. This should help and make that safer.'
In September 2024, the City of Bluefield was awarded a $25,748,152 in federal grants through President Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for the Safe Streets and Roads for All program. Marson said that the $1.2 million Reconnecting Communities grant is from a different federal program.
'Like the Safe Streets, all these grants kind of work this way,' Marson said. 'First, you apply for the grant because you have a project. The first portion is the planning, so you'll get a funding amount — that was $1.2 million for us — then you have to resubmit again for implementation. Implementation is where construction comes in and we're not there yet on this grant.'
The project is big because it has been a long time since the city's northeast side has seen a major investment, Marson said.
'It's deserving. It needs it,' he said. 'We need to help the college, assist the residents, make it safer over there and clean up.'
Contact Greg Jordan at
gjordan@bdtonline.com
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