Since the closure of both East and West bound lanes along Route 50, motorists are still having difficulty understanding the signs that were posted by the WV DOH. The signs are clearly marked, "ROAD CLOSED", "DEAD END" and "DETOUR" and the signs are posted miles before the actual closure on Route 50. Motorists are ignoring these signs and are still clamoring up into the Crystal Ridge development looking to by-pass the closure.
Back in March of 2008, when the WV DOH closed Route 50, they placed the "ROAD CLOSED" signs directly in front of the two entrances of Crystal Ridge. This directed all motorists, which ignored the posted detour signs, into the Crystal Ridge community. As many as 1,600 vehicles per day were driving through Crystal Ridge and many of them were ignoring the posted speed limit of 15 MPH. The residents of Crystal Ridge felt that this was an extremely dangerous situation and asked the City of Bridgeport to close the access off to all motorists, including themselves, until Route 50 was re-opened.
At this point, motorists are still ignoring the posted warnings and continue to drive through the development looking for a "by-pass". Motorists are even driving through the barricade and signage that the WV DOH put up that closes Route 50. Daily, residents of Crystal Ridge witness cars, trucks and motorcyclists driving through the construction site on Route 50. A resident in Crystal Ridge stated, "I'd rather see these people drive through the construction zone on Route 50 than have them drive through our neighborhood. Why would I want someone driving though here when they completely ignore their own safety. They'll drive though a posted closed road where there are 3 foot wide cracks and 4 foot deep holes... why would I want them driving through my community? They don't have any respect for themselves, why would they respect me, my children or my property?"
The barricade that was installed in Crystal Ridge by the City of Bridgeport is temporary and will be removed once construction is completed on Route 50. Not even the residents of Crystal Ridge have access through this barricade. They are just as inconvenienced by the detour and construction on Route 50 as any other person that travels that route. More-so in that their community is being blamed like they're the ones that caused the slip. When in fact, there were multiple reasons for the cause of the slip. An over abundance of wet weather this past winter and spring, a water main break that occurred under Route 50, poor road maintenance by the WV DOH and poor water containment by the developers.
Motorists should read the warning signs and follow them to the appropriate detours designated by the WVDOH. The WV State Police and the Bridgeport Police Department can ticket any motorist that is caught driving through any barricade system.
d davis says ...
On Thursday, Jul 3 at 9:11 PM
i would like to know if that community is serviced by the state road and if so then how can they complain about people driving through there i pay taxes and dont feel it right that if the state road takes care of the road have full control of traffic