BUCKHANNON – Construction on a long-awaited highway safety improvement project that involves installing traffic signals at two notoriously dangerous intersections along U.S. Route 33 will get underway this summer, a spokesperson with the West Virginia Department of Transportation said Thursday.

Jennifer Dooley, director of public relations for the DOT, told My Buckhannon that work on one of multiple planned projects along Route 33 in Upshur County will begin this summer.

The project – installation of a traffic signal at Route 33’s intersection with Childers Run Road – was awarded this week to Pritchard Signal & Light Company based in Scott Depot, W.Va., according to a West Virginia Division of Highways press release issued Thursday.

Dooley said bids for the project were received on April 12, 2022, and she obtained the following information after speaking with DOH District 7 engineer Brian Cooper.

“The project is in the process of being awarded,” Dooley wrote in an email. “Once awarded and a Notice to Proceed is issued to the successful bidder, work may begin. It is anticipated for the contractor to begin work as early as this summer (actual start time is dependent upon material availability) and the estimated completion date is this winter.”

The Putnam County-based business was the low bidder on a traffic signal project with a bid of $451,852.83.

In April 2021, Cooper, the DOH District 7 engineer, informed local government officials that multiple projects were planned: the installation of new traffic signals at Childers Run and Kesling Mill and a renovation and upgrade to the traffic signal located at the intersection of Route 33 and the Brushy Fork Road.

The Childers Run project was one of the 21 projects the state Division of Highways announced had been awarded on April 27.