As students and employees return to West Virginia University Tech’s new campus in Beckley, West Virginia, school administrators are alerting the community to increased vehicle and pedestrian traffic on and around campus.
New students and their families will be moving into campus residence halls this weekend, according to Jen Wood Cunningham, director of university relations.
Local travelers should be aware of the increase in traffic and watch for sudden stops as families move in and out of loading zones, she says.
Classes officially begin on Wednesday, August 21, significantly increasing traffic in the city’s downtown.
The WVU-Tech community is asking drivers in the area to use extra caution while traveling along Church and South Kanawha streets.
Last year, the main roads adjacent to campus saw a number of motor vehicle accidents and “near-misses” with pedestrians, Cunningham said.
University police will be enforcing the speed limit and the Beckley Police Department will post a speed monitoring system on South Kanawha for the first week of school.
WVU Tech, officially West Virginia University Institute of Technology, opened the campus in Beckley in 2017 after leaving Montgomery, West Virginia.