LEWISBURG W.Va. (WVDN) – The property owner of the building housing the Bella Corner Gourmet store in Lewisburg is Wilson Properties. The company, run by John Wilson, took ownership in April of this year and had owned the property a few times in the past.
According to John Wilson, he and Bella’s owner, Tamera Pence, had written a joint letter to the Department of Highways a month ago, and this past week’s additional collision of a tractor-trailer with their building has brought an immediate response.
“We were told it would be 90 days to hear back from the DOH, but things have been fast-tracked.” It is his understanding that signage will first prohibit trucks of a certain size from turning off Route 60 onto Route 219 North at that intersection.
“Of course, there are others, drivers of some experience, who will determine they can do it. And I saw one just the following day, despite my efforts to discourage it, made the turn. You have to swing wide, to turn right you have to travel into the oncoming traffic to make a wide swing with a long vehicle.”
Wilson said he learned the most recent driver of last Tuesday’s doomed truck was from Massachusetts and had only been a truck driver for a few weeks. Reportedly, he was a man in his 40s who recently chose to change careers to driving trucks.
The driver, like others before him, said that GPS directions had caused him to choose this route through Lewisburg.
“He had just picked up a load of paper from Covington and was headed to Ohio with it,” said Wilson. “If you direct GPS for the shortest route there are mileage differences, a savings, to go off I-64 at Harts Run and follow Route 60 to rejoin the interstate at the Lewisburg ramps.”
According to Wilson, there is fuel for trucks at the Lewisburg stop that is not available in Hart’s Run. But there is no evidence that the driver was seeking fuel or food since he had just left Covington, Virginia.
As to the repairs to the building and the continuation of the Bella the Corner Gourmet business, there have been a few bumps in the insurance payback road for John Wilson. He said, “We have gotten appraisers, and the type of materials and window treatments they are willing to consider for a financial award are not ones that are approved by the historic district regulations.”
These issues are responsible for some of the delays. Repairs from the collision in July had not been made yet, and this time there was an immediate response from the structural engineering firm in town to inspect and prescribe the necessary repairs for structural soundness.
There are many involved in the picture. Wilson stated, “The city and the DOH have been working and struggling on this for a while.” Some say there have been eight collisions since the beginning of 2023.
