Students from Midland Trail Middle School met with West Virginia Transportation Secretary Todd Rumbaugh and other state highway officials on Thursday, April 2, to propose an overpass bridge project to improve safety and help ease congestion on US 19 near the New River Gorge National Park, according to a press release from the WV Department of Transportation.
“I think it would be safer, and it will bring a sense of arrival to the park,” said Cora Jensen, a seventh grader at Midland Trail who was one of seven students to present the idea to state highway engineers. “I think it will bring more attractions to the north side of the bridge.”
Jensen and the other students argued the overpass would be a good solution to increasing traffic in the area due to a recent rise in tourism. Annual visitors to the area rose from about 500,000 in the 1990s to about 2 million today, the students said.
Students said the intersections of US 19 with Lansing-Edmonds Road and Ames Heights Road are the site of crashes and are difficult to negotiate. Their proposal would build an overpass over US 19 at the site.
Kennedy Moore, a curriculum specialist for Fayette County Schools who works out of Midland Trail, said the students looked at crash data and the results of an engineering study conducted in 2024 and 2025 and met with community members in coming up with the idea for the overpass bridge. Students also met with National Park Service community planners, whom they said support the idea.
The overpass was one of several projects considered by the students and was the preferred alternative at an open house meeting attended by about 300 local residents and business leaders.
The biggest obstacle to the project is funding. If the idea were accepted, highway officials would have to figure out how to pay for it.
Following the presentation, the students met with engineers and highway officials to learn how the West Virginia Division of Highways collects data, plans and builds highway projects.
