The Clarksburg Exponent Telegram

by Nora Edinger, Regional Editor

BRIDGEPORT (Friday, May 3, 2002, Page A1)

W.Va. 279 will open to traffic 9 a.m. Monday, according to the state Division of Highways.

The long-awaited four-lane links I-79 at Jerry Dove Drive to U.S. 50 near the Taylor County border. It provides a bypass of northern Bridgeport and is partly intended to relieve congestion in that city's downtown.

It will also provide a straight shot from the FBI's fingerprint center in Clarksburg to an aerospace park in Bridgeport.

A high-tech business park and residential community called Charles Pointe is planned to be built between the two facilities. United Hospital Center also hopes to build a new site at the intersection with I-79.

W.Va. 279 is a 2.8-mile long road, according to DOH records. The $30 million project was built through four state bond-funded projects. Work included 2.1 million cubic yards of excavation and construction of a concrete I-beam bridge over W.Va. 131.

Construction contractors included Mashuda Corp. of Evans City, Pa., Ground Breakers Inc. of Clarksburg and Bizzack Inc. of Lexington, Ky.