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BEVERLY -- The newly installed traffic light at the south entrance of the AHF Products wood flooring plant in Beverly will become fully operational beginning next week.
The construction and installation of the light are complete and this week it has been flashing to oncoming traffic.
Beginning mid-morning on Monday, however, the light will become full functional and will be stopping traffic along Route 250.
The facility's administration has wanted a light at that location for many years but it became essential with the expansion and the construction of the new 85,000-square foot distribution center at the plant, officials said.
The West Virginia Division of Highways also said the light was necessary because of the traffic, especially trucks, that will be entering and leaving that end of the plant once the expansion is complete, Robbie Morris, the executive director of the Randolph County Development Authority, told The Inter-Mountain Thursday.
Last week, union workers at AHF Products voted by more than 92 percent to ratify the company's new contract proposal.
The deal is a four-year pact that includes a total raise of $2.05 for the life of the contract. The new contract also includes health insurance premiums at low increases.
The ratification ended an almost year-long dispute. Last February, the company's last offer was rejected by 93 percent of the Teamsters Local 175 union members working at AHF.
The ribbon was cut on the plant's new expansion in November 2019.
AHF Products manufactures hardwood flooring products and acquired Armstrong Flooring in late 2018. This new expansion improves the flow of distribution within the plant and has the potential to create many new jobs over the next 10 years, officials said.
Made possible by a $2.5 million grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration, the expansion project was announced by U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., along with federal, state and local officials, the Randolph County Development Authority and Armstrong leaders in October 2018.
The Beverly facility is the largest pre-finished hardwood flooring plant in the country.