If in the end, all we have done is created a four-lane road into downtown Fairmont, we have failed.
That’s something we’ve expressed our opinion about in the past. And now, 18 months after the I-79 Gateway Connector has opened, we have to ask where we are.
It is easier to come into Fairmont proper now with the Connector, no doubt. Before, the city was isolated from interstate traffic. You had to either get off in White Hall, travel down the long U.S. Route 250 path along the river into town or make it through the densely packed commercial/residential area of East Fairmont to get to your destination. That is, after all, why development was happening in White Hall and Pleasant Valley as opposed to in the city, right? Easy access?
So build the multi-million-dollar, 1 1/2-mile direct connection to Fairmont. What used to take 15 minutes, without traffic clogging the roadways, now takes two at the most.
While residents are enjoying the ability to get from Point A to Point B for work, school and play, the Connector wasn’t for today’s Fairmont. It was infrastructure for tomorrow’s Fairmont. It was meant to open up Fairmont, once landlocked, to the interstate to stimulate commerce and groom that part of town for an explosion of economic development.
Except it hasn’t. Yet.
Are we expecting too much after 18 months? Rome wasn’t built in a day, but they were daily building Rome. We don’t believe it’s too much to expect to see some kind of progress you could directly attribute to the Connector and improved access to Fairmont. After all, development continues in White Hall and Pleasant Valley.
It’s not that we need to see a Sheetz or a Home Depot along the Connector to believe in this area’s potential. We’ve been a champion for Fairmont all along. Those of us who live here know exactly what this city has going for it. It’s just that we believe passers-by need to see a sign — a physical one and not a metaphoric one — to use their turn signal and get off Interstate 79 at Exit 136.
If not, we invested millions, razed an entire community, held our collective breath when funding became political instead of consistent, and lived through 10 years of snail-paced construction for a faster commute to and from work.
And it was never intended to be just that.
On these very pages, we ran a letter to the editor once that hailed the then-proposed Connector as a “four-lane highway to a hot dog stand.” Have we come any further since then? Do we continue to want Exit 136 to be labeled on maps and smartphone apps as “No Services?”
Marion County has many economic development organizations, but one in particular hasn’t stood up to be the champion for this 1 1/2-mile stretch of road and the potential that’s there. This particular area needs focus, not a “build it and they will come” approach.
In a unified voice, bringing everyone together, we need to say there’s a reason to get off the interstate at Exit 136. We’ve laid the groundwork — now it’s time to show it off.
Opinion
Fairmont needs focus to spur growth along I-79 Connector
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