Lawsuit filed amid frustration over Pilot Travel Center in Putnam County

PUTNAM COUNTY, W.Va. (WCHS) — The Pilot Travel Center just outside Nitro city limits is a popular stop for truckers and travelers, bringing traffic to the small lot leaving drivers with no easy way to turn around and get back on the interstate.

“They have become a nuisance. It’s a safety hazard for us,” Putnam County Sheriff Bobby Eggleton said. “The tractor-trailers will back up clear on the interstate. That creates a traffic issue, a safety issue.”

Eggleton has been a driving force behind improving traffic near the Pilot. He’s suggested it move to a larger location, one that would better accommodate its visitors.

“I got contacted by a corporation right next to the Pilot station who has had issues,” he said. “They’ve called me to try to help with the issues of traffic up there. They got fed up. They filed a lawsuit against the Pilot corporation.”

He said, they’ve tried communicating with Pilot, but they’ve only reached dead ends. He said this is a route they didn’t want to have to take.

“I talked to commissioner Skidmore. I told him I thought we had issues,” Eggleton said. “We ran the numbers of calls that we have run up there in the last four years. It’s in the hundreds. So we were like, okay, it’s time to do something. If we can’t get them to be a friendly neighbor, then we’ll do it through the court system.”

People who live in the area said, they’ve sat for an hour in standstill traffic just waiting to get off of the exit.

“There’s no easy way around it right now but somebody really needs to address this in some way,” resident John Davis said. “I actually get to the point where I would rather work with the Cross Lanes exit rather than the Nitro exit and the Cross Lanes exit is full of construction and many problems of their own.”

He said there’s no good way to get through the area when traffic is backed up.

“What happens is when you’re coming around the curve headed towards Nitro, the curve will be blocked,” he said. “You don’t even know it until you’re right up on them. You have to sometimes do a complete panic stop just to get up the road.”

Pilot issued a statement to Eyewitness News in January following coverage regarding an interstate sign that would let people know when the lot was full.

The company said they were working to address concerns about traffic congestion near the Pilot near Nitro. Local authorities and their teams will continue to implement additional measures to improve traffic flow and enhance safety in the area.

Davis said he’s hopeful a change will be made to keep the public safe.

“Me and my wife were talking about ambulances and getting stuck on and off the exit ramp,” he said. “Things like that, there’s just literally no way to get through the area.”