Ten years ago, there was a movement in Berkeley Springs and Morgan County to force heavy thru trucks to stay on the Interstates (70 and 81) and not use US 522 as a shortcut for trucks travelling from Pittsburgh and west to the south.
An Associated Press story from 2005 opened this way:
“Shopkeeper Trish Shunney wants visitors to see what she sees in this quaint tourist town: historic inns, art galleries, indulgent spas and the warm mineral springs that lured George Washington here more than two and a half centuries ago. She doesn’t want them to choke on the exhaust of the more than 1,700 trucks a day that roll down the two-lane main street.”
But citizens who wanted to the heavy trucks to stay on the Interstates were told — it couldn’t be done.
Lo and behold — it can be done.
Even right here in West Virginia.
And yesterday, the city of Morgantown did it.
According to press reports, last night the Morgantown City Council passed an ordinance that limits heavy trucks traveling through the city’s downtown area along State Route 7.
“The ordinance was specifically written to be easily enforced,” said Evan Hansen, a local downtown business owner and member of the group Safe Streets Morgantown, which crafted the ordinance. “We’re very grateful to city council for considering the ordinance so carefully and for passing it because we think it’s very important for the city of Morgantown.”