New Woodburn Community School

DOH PREDICTS CRASH INCREASE ON 5-LANE MILEGROUND HIGHWAY EXPANSION BY EASTWOOD SITE

See page 19 of the “Mileground Road Traffic: Final Report“:

The West Virginia Division of Highways (DOH) 5-lane expansion plan for the Mileground
DOES NOT

“eliminate the most severe crash types – head-on and right-angle crashes.”

In fact, the DOH analysis shows:

“Crash experience is expected to increase”
“Capacity [congestion] issues at intersections may remain”

Head-on crash increase, T-bone crash increase, continued congestion: not exactly a safe and healthy environment for a new school, where young children would travel into and out of for up to 7 years, pre-k through 5th grade. And not exactly legal.

The Mileground Traffic Report notes on page 21 that for

“the Five-Lane alternative…vehicular conflicts and resulting crashes would be expected to increase when compared to the existing three-lane section and as traffic volumes grow.”

MORE CRASHES. Think it’s bad now? The Report says to expect ever more crashes and “vehicular conflicts.”

MORE TRAFFIC. Not only will added lanes and ongoing area and regional growth bring more traffic to this vortex, so will the “new traffic signal system being installed” increase the flow of traffic from the nearby Stewartstown/705 intersection, causing “downstream demand [increased traffic] at the [Eastwood site] WV 705/Mileground Road intersection [to] be intensified somewhat (during the p.m. peak),” that is during school release hours. (Mileground Traffic Report, page 21.)

MORE TRAFFIC AND MORE CRASHES are expected by the DOH on the Mileground by the Eastwood site. This is a dangerous scenario and a wrongful one for the public school students of a new school, all of whom would find their safety put at risk on a daily basis and all of whom would be flooded with health debilitating vehicle exhaust and likely gas station fumes.

The traffic and crash health and safety dangers are bad enough and wrongful at the Eastwood site. And the commerce and industry on the Mileground strip are unhealthy and dangerous for children too: “Gas Stations Are Toxic Neighbors.” 

South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD)  Air Quality Issues in School Site Selection Guidance Document June 2005 (revised May 2007):

South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD)  Air Quality Issues in School Site Selection Guidance Document June 2005 (revised May 2007) Prepared for:  South Coast Air Quality Management District 21865 Copley Drive Diamond Bar, CA 91765 (909) 396-2000    Prepared by:  ICF Consulting 60 Broadway San Francisco, CA 94111 (415) 677-7100    Reviewed by:Jean Ospital Health Effects Officer South Coast Air Quality Management District (909) 396-2582

“433 wrecks, 30 weeks, 8 sites” – first 30 weeks of 2010:

FUTURE ARTERIAL HIGHWAYS PRIORITIZED BY MPO
AT EASTWOOD TRAFFIC AND INDUSTRY VORTEX:

IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT THE “FALLING RUN CORRIDOR” ARTERIAL AND THE “INNER LOOP CONNECTOR” ARTERIAL ARE NOT ONLY “PROPOSED” THEY ARE “PRIORITIZED” BY THE MPO, AND THEY ARE NOT ONLY PRIORITIZED, THEY ARE THE VERY NEXT IN LINE TOP TIER PRIORITIES OF THE GREATER MORGANTOWN METROPOLITAN PLANNING ORGANIZATION: