CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A water main line break before last week’s snowstorm has forced the KRT to make another route adjustment for the next few weeks.
Assistant General Manager Doug Hartley said the alternate route had to be changed from its original Summers St. location.
“KRT met with the city, the mayor and other department heads and worked out a temporary solution to relocate the bus stop on the 100 block of Laidley Street, and then also using Quarrier Street in front of the federal building effective Monday,” he said.
He said KRT updated their website and Facebook page so passengers could be informed on the new route and location. He hoped that the detour would be very temporary.
“The hopeful is that they’ll be completed in two to three weeks and we can be back in the transit mall,” Hartley said. “But we’ve been on Summers Street and it’s been an inconvenience to the businesses there and our passengers.”
He said the route would be a practice run for construction planned at Slack Street this summer.
“It’s going to be a trial run for later on this summer when the construction at the transit mall and Slack Plaza all takes place,” said Hartley.
He warned that unlike at Slack Plaza, the new pickup area offers little or no shelter from the elements.
“Unfortunately not right now. We’re hoping for better weather which will help expedite the repairs,” he said. “If we get into some bitter cold, we’ll try to find a place where we can keep a warming bus as we normally do when the weather gets down into the teens.”
Hartley expressed the hope that new route would help traffic move more efficiently through Charleston.