MINERAL WELLS - Traffic along West Virginia 14 was flowing better Tuesday to allow people to more easily reach the West Virginia Interstate Fair and Exposition on Butcher Bend Road, fair and highway officials said.
Road crews were working Monday along W.Va. 14 between the Interstate 77 interchange and Mineral Wells. Flaggers were out and traffic was backed up to where people were waiting from 20 minutes to an hour to get through, depending on the time of day.
Brent Walker, spokesman for the West Virginia Department of Transportation, said a meeting was held Tuesday. Crews had worked through the evening Monday to finish a road tie-in project in the southbound lane of W.Va. 14.
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Photo by Jeff Baughan
Traffic has resumed in a two-way direction along W.Va. 14 in Mineral Wells as of Tuesday
Work is being done in the area to eventually change the traffic flow of W.Va. 14, providing a more straight through route from the interstate interchange to Mineral Wells.
Walker said similar work planned for the northbound lane would be postponed until next week to accommodate people going to the fair this week.
''We are going to hold off on that,'' he said. ''Crews will be back at it next week.''
Fact Box
Official Word
- Traffic along W.Va. 14 was flowing better Tuesday to allow people to more easily reach the West Virginia Interstate Fair and Exposition on Butcher Bend Road.
- After road work on Monday was causing major delays, highway officials finished their work in the southbound lane.
- Work scheduled for the northbound lane is being postponed until next week to allow people easier access to the fairgrounds.
- Fair officials said in talking with those coming through the gates Tuesday afternoon, they were finding people were not having trouble reaching the fairgrounds.
With the fair going on, highway officials wanted to make sure traffic would be able to flow as smoothly as possible.
''We wanted people to be able to go out and be able to enjoy the fair,'' Walker said.
Fair officials said in talking with those coming through the gates Tuesday afternoon, they were finding people were not having trouble getting to the fairgrounds. There were small delays, but not to the extent people were seeing Monday.
''It is definitely moving better (Tuesday) than yesterday,'' said Angie Zoller of the fair board. ''People have been telling us they weren't stopped.
''Traffic is moving pretty well for us.''
Once work resumes next week, highway officials said, the community can expect traffic to be backed up again at times.
''There will be some major delays,'' Walker said.
