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ELKINS -- The road in front of Davis Medical Center will be closed to through traffic later this month, officials announced Monday.
The section of Gorman Avenue that runs in front of DMC will close to through traffic beginning Jan. 25, a Davis Health System press release said Monday afternoon.
"According to Davis Health System leadership, traffic and vehicular speeding on Gorman Avenue has increased putting patients' safety at risk,"the press release states. "This is especially the case for patients with mobility problems.
"Crosswalks and speed bumps have not done enough to deter vehicles from driving too fast on the road section, leadership members advised City of Elkins officials," according to the release.
"The road closure is solely for the safety of our patients and employees," DHS CEO Vance Jackson said. "We have patients who stop along Gorman Avenue to drop off and pick up family members. Some vehicles do not even slow down to allow people to cross the road. It's just become too dangerous."
Elkins City Clerk Jessica Sutton told The Inter-Mountain Wednesday that DHS has been communicating with the city about closing the street for several years.
"Davis Memorial approached us actually a while ago, I'd say several years ago, and like many things during the pandemic, it was kind of put on hold for a while," Sutton said.
DHS officials came before Elkins City Council's Municipal Properties Committee in March 2020, asking to change the traffic pattern on Gorman Avenue to slow down traffic.
"Then back in August of last year, the Municipal Properties Committee went through the process that we use whenever we consider the abandonment of an alley or a roadway. They held a public hearing and make the recommendation to council for the abandonment of that section of Gorman Avenue, between Martin Street and Reed Street.
"And then council ultimately approved that by ordinance back in September," Sutton said. "It took them a while, I think, to decide exactly how they wanted to approach it, with the changing of the traffic patterns and everything, which is now completely up to them, since that section of the road''s been turned over to them.
"We had our police chief, fire chief, a representative from the Department of Highways, just because of the proximity to Harrison Avenue, and Reed Street is also a DOH-maintained roadway, so we had them come. Everybody was in favor of it," she said.
Davis Medical Center patients will be routed to the medical center parking area from existing entrances along Martin Street and Main Street. Individual and commercial traffic will need to take alternate routes around the road section, the DHS press release states.
The Davis Medical Center MarketPlace and Starbucks WPS parking is accessible from entrances along Reed and Main Streets, the release states. New traffic signage along Gorman Avenue will be installed before Jan. 25.