BUFFALO, W.Va. -- The new U.S. 35 through Putnam County was built in part to alleviate traffic on one of the most dangerous roads in the state, but county officials are worried several intersections on the road may add a new element of risk to residents.

The new four-lane road spans 14 miles and will connect Interstate 64 at the Crooked Creek exit to the Buffalo Bridge. It is slated to open in mid-June.

Several county roads intersect the new U.S. 35 with only a stop sign to control traffic coming onto the highway.

"It's a recipe for disaster," said Putnam County Commissioner Joe Haynes.

Residents are especially concerned about Hurricane Creek Road, which connects the old U.S. 35 in Fraziers Bottom to the city of Hurricane. Drivers on Hurricane Creek Road will have to cross up to four lanes of traffic on the new U.S. 35.

"Some mornings it's very foggy and rainy, and, depending on the time of the year, it's dark, and when you combine those things with semis going 50 and 70 miles a hour, it's a little bit of a scary situation," said Charlie Tribble, transportation coordinator for Putnam County schools.

County school buses pick up about 50 students along Hurricane Creek Road during the school year.

"It's a pretty good bus load, and there's a special-needs bus that comes through there," Tribble said.

School buses will have to cross four lanes of traffic twice a day, and the median in the new road is not large enough to fit the entire length of the bus, Tribble said.

He said the new road will not open until after the end of the school year, which ends June 5.

The ideal solution to the problem is to install a stoplight at the intersection, Haynes said.

"I'm just hoping they're going to address it and we'll see what happens between now and the start of school," Tribble said.

The county Board of Education has gotten several calls from parents concerned about the intersection, he said.

Members of the BOE and the County Commission have approached the state Department of Highways about installing a traffic signal at the intersection.

But DOH officials say they need to conduct more studies to determine if traffic is heavy enough on the road to warrant a stoplight.

"We don't have traffic counts because the situation has been fluid there for several years now," said DOH spokesman Brent Walker. "We haven't had any consistency there, but when we open this new section, we'll have a better idea of the traffic situation."

The new U.S. 35 will pull the majority of the heavy truck and trailer traffic off the old U.S. 35, leaving the old U.S. 35 -- which will be renamed U.S. 817 -- for local traffic.

BUFFALO, W.Va. -- The new U.S. 35 through Putnam County was built in part to alleviate traffic on one of the most dangerous roads in the state, but county officials are worried several intersections on the road may add a new element of risk to residents.

The new four-lane road spans 14 miles and will connect Interstate 64 at the Crooked Creek exit to the Buffalo Bridge. It is slated to open in mid-June.

Several county roads intersect the new U.S. 35 with only a stop sign to control traffic coming onto the highway.

"It's a recipe for disaster," said Putnam County Commissioner Joe Haynes.

Residents are especially concerned about Hurricane Creek Road, which connects the old U.S. 35 in Fraziers Bottom to the city of Hurricane. Drivers on Hurricane Creek Road will have to cross up to four lanes of traffic on the new U.S. 35.

"Some mornings it's very foggy and rainy, and, depending on the time of the year, it's dark, and when you combine those things with semis going 50 and 70 miles a hour, it's a little bit of a scary situation," said Charlie Tribble, transportation coordinator for Putnam County schools.

County school buses pick up about 50 students along Hurricane Creek Road during the school year.

"It's a pretty good bus load, and there's a special-needs bus that comes through there," Tribble said.

School buses will have to cross four lanes of traffic twice a day, and the median in the new road is not large enough to fit the entire length of the bus, Tribble said.

He said the new road will not open until after the end of the school year, which ends June 5.

The ideal solution to the problem is to install a stoplight at the intersection, Haynes said.

"I'm just hoping they're going to address it and we'll see what happens between now and the start of school," Tribble said.

The county Board of Education has gotten several calls from parents concerned about the intersection, he said.

Members of the BOE and the County Commission have approached the state Department of Highways about installing a traffic signal at the intersection.

But DOH officials say they need to conduct more studies to determine if traffic is heavy enough on the road to warrant a stoplight.

"We don't have traffic counts because the situation has been fluid there for several years now," said DOH spokesman Brent Walker. "We haven't had any consistency there, but when we open this new section, we'll have a better idea of the traffic situation."

The new U.S. 35 will pull the majority of the heavy truck and trailer traffic off the old U.S. 35, leaving the old U.S. 35 -- which will be renamed U.S. 817 -- for local traffic.

"It's going to be a pretty busy road," Tribble said.

At least five county roads will intersect the new U.S. 35, all with stop signs controlling traffic coming onto the highway.

Tribble said county school buses can probably manage to avoid some of the heavy traffic by crossing the highway at Staves Branch Road, which intersects the new U.S. 35 about a mile down from Hurricane Creek Road.

"But you have the same type of situation," Tribble said.

The buses will still be crossing four lanes of traffic with just a stop sign stopping traffic coming from Staves Branch Road.

Haynes said the County Commission has been talking with the DOH about the intersection for over a year.

When construction started, the commission appealed to the DOH to put in an overpass at the intersection, Haynes said. That request was denied because the DOH said there was not enough traffic to warrant an overpass, he said.

The new U.S. 35 will connect with the old highway at the Buffalo Bridge.

Once in Buffalo, residents coming across the Buffalo Bridge can merge onto either old U.S. 35/U.S. 817 or the new U.S. 35 toward I-64.

Traffic onto U.S. 35 from I-64 will merge either onto the old two-lane U.S. 35 toward Point Pleasant or across the Buffalo Bridge onto U.S. 817.

Construction on the new U.S. 35 started in 2004. The 14-mile stretch of roadway is part of a larger project to build 34 miles of road connecting Henderson, Mason County, to I-64, providing a direct link to Columbus, Ohio.

In October, the state opened a 2-mile stretch of the new U.S. 35 from Crooked Creek to U.S. 34 at a cost of about $35 million. Construction so far has cost about $500 million, according to the DOH.

The state has not secured funding for the last 14 miles of the new U.S. 35, between the Buffalo Bridge and County Route 40. The remaining road is projected to cost about $250 million.

The DOT and Gov. Joe Manchin's office have discussed charging tolls on the new U.S. 35 between Winfield and the Ohio River to fund construction and help fund future projects in the state.

Putnam County commissioners have said that is the last thing they want to see, but something the county may need to consider if funding cannot be secured in a timely manner.

The current two-lane U.S. 35 is one of the most dangerous in the state. The highway is a thruway for freight trucks. Its straight, flat stretches encourage speeding, and with only two lanes, the route is too narrow to handle the heavy tractor-trailer traffic that can endanger smaller vehicles.

Reach Veronica Nett at veroni...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5113.