West Virginia Department of Transportation’s Hal Greer Boulevard Bike and Pedestrian Improvements

Hal Greer Boulevard serves its main function as a main thoroughfare into and out of the City of Huntington, WV. However, as a street that moves people and bicyclists through a community, the roadway did not provide non-motorists with a full “sense of safety” for most of its length. A study conducted by the KYOVA Interstate Planning Commission – a metropolitan planning organization serving the Tri-State area of West Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio – revealed a concerning trend that needed to be addressed. From 2013 to 2017, nearly 600 automobile crashes – including pedestrian and cyclist-involved crashes – occurred over that four-year period. Enter the Hal Greer Boulevard Corridor Management Plan – a $13.5 million redesign of the corridor which kept pedestrians, bicyclists, and the presence of multimodal intersections in mind. The city of Huntington contributed 20 percent of the cost of the project and the remaining 80 percent was funded through a federal grant secured by KYOVA and administered by the West Virginia Department of Transportation. The project realigned intersections at 10th Avenue and Charleston Avenue, widened sidewalks, added bicycle lanes, installed new lighting, reconfigured traffic lights and added greenspace along the Hal Greer corridor, all to help make the area more user-friendly for drivers, pedestrians, and bicyclists alike.

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