SOUTH CHARLESTON, WV (WOWK) – Crews have been working on the Jefferson Connector in South Charleston for a while now. Here’s what those crews have been up to.

“That’s going to be expanded to a five-lane road with what we can a flyover which is an overpass over the railroad tracks and that was key to get that done,” Frank Mullens, Mayor of South Charleston said.

The five lanes will go from Route 60 to the Southridge Corridor and the access road will lead out where the Ice Arena and Target are.

“That’s going to be a tremendous help to getting you out of the parking lot. Those of us that shop out there when it’s really crowded you sometimes get stuck in that parking lot from Lowes and target, may take you 45 minutes to get out the parking lot,” Mullens said.

Many who have been in traffic here, especially during the holidays, know it can be a real headache.

“Very good idea. It’s going to take a lot of the traffic away,” Harry Hanshaw, a man driving by said.

“To make the roads and bring them to the twenty-first century and make the roads more accessible for higher traffic and things of that nature, out-of-towners and tourists and I think is nothing but solid and great for us,” Toi Bain, a man driving by said.  

Not everyone agrees.

“I wish they would fix the small roads up in the hills before doing stuff like this,” Sarah Sentman, a woman driving by said.

Mullens believes the expansion will also help with the new Park Place shopping center that will hold up to 26 stores.

The project is expected to be completed by 2024.