St Albans Corridor Study
The Regional Intergovernmental Council’s (RIC’s) long-range transportation plan, Metro Mobility 2040, included in its fiscally constrained project recommendations to “Widen and upgrade the Third Street underpass in St. Albans.” The underpass consists of three bridges – Third Avenue, Fourth Avenue, and the CSX railroad. In 2012, RIC and HDR Engineering, Inc. completed the St. Albans Railroad Crossing Study which evaluated all CSX at-grade and grade separated crossings within St. Albans. The recommendation from this study was to widen and upgrade the Third Street underpass. This recommendation included lowering the vertical profile and reconstructing the walls of the underpass to improve horizontal and vertical clearances. HDR estimated cost of this project to be $9.6 million. RIC, in cooperation with the West Virginia Department of Transportation (WVDOT), retained Burgess & Niple, Inc. to lead a study to further identify and define current transportation problems and needs in the Third Street corridor, to examine the Third Street underpass upgrade option in more detail, to identify less costly solutions, and to determine the most cost effective improvements to address problems and needs in the corridor.