Two Wal-Marts, Sam’s Club on Track to Open: University Town Centre, Hornbeck Road Will Be New Locations

By Eric Bowen and, The Dominion Post, Morgantown, W.Va.

Mar. 27–Two new Wal-Mart Supercenters and a Sam’s Club are set to open this fall, a company spokeswoman said Friday. Laurie Smalling, senior manager of public affairs for Wal-Mart stores, said the three stores will probably open about two weeks apart and could be open as early as September.

The supercenter and Sam’s Club at the University Town Centre in Granville are scheduled to open at the same time. A second supercenter is also under construction on Hornbeck Road and will replace the Wal-Mart in Mountaineer Mall. “We are looking at fall openings, but we don’t have specific dates yet,” Smalling said. “It’s still early on to give an exact date.” Smalling said that the Supercenter in Granville will employ about 400 people and will cover about 210,000 square feet. Sam’s Club will be about 130,000 square feet with 200 employees. Most of the employees for the Supercenter off Hornbeck Road will come from the Mountaineer Mall Wal-Mart, Smalling said. Because the new store is larger and has a grocery store, it will add another 100 people. “We’re creating a lot of jobs,” Smalling said. “With any type of expansion and the addition of other departments, like the food section, they will make sure people are fully trained on their targeted areas.” Construction on Hornbeck Road also includes a new traffic signal on U.S. 119 at Hornbeck Road. The signal will also serve the St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church and School on the other side of the highway. Wal-Mart is paying to install a turn lane on U.S. 119 onto Hornbeck Road, and to widen Hornbeck Road as far as the new store entrance. Hornbeck Road intersects with U.S. 119 only a short distance below the Interstate 68 eastbound off-ramp. It runs parallel to I-68. “We are doing the improvements to the ramp at the intersection of I-68 and U.S. 119 in conjunction with our new supercenter,” Smalling said. “If there is going to be infrastructure improvements to be able to accommodate our stores, we will work with the community to try and meet those needs.” In 2000, when Wal-Mart wanted to establish a store off W.Va. 705 near Stewartstown Road, a Wal-Mart spokesman said the firm normally spent between $150,000-$250,000 for highway and infrastructure improvements for new stores. The DOH will open bids for the new traffic light at 10 a.m. April 4 in Charleston, said Tracy Estel, a DOH construction engineer at the Bridgeport District Office. The contract will have a completion set for the end of July. The successful contractor should start work on the signal project at the end of April, she said. Because all utility lines are underground there due to the presence of the interstate, the signal contractor will have to move the underground wiring and set up a temporary power service. “The hope is to start widening U.S. 119 and Hornbeck Road very soon,” Estel said. That work, however, can’t start “until we get the lines out of the ground.” The turn lane will go where those lines are now. The lines will be relocated farther from the highway. The construction timeline for the highway widening depends on two things, she said. One is the work on the traffic signal; the other is the availability of black-top. Paving can’t begin until the asphalt plants reopen in warmer weather. The state will oversee the project to make sure it meets standards. “They’re hoping to get the widening done as quickly as possible,” she said. Another lane will be added from the I-68 off ramp south to Hornbeck Road — about 700 to 800 feet, she said. A southbound turn lane will also be added at the I-68 westbound off ramp to accommodate traffic coming from Cheat Lake and other eastern parts of Monongalia County.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Dominion Post, Morgantown, W.Va.

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