Because WVU's main Morgantown campus is actually split into two campuses (Downtown and Evansdale) one of the major icons at
the school is a Personal rapid transit system to link
its disjointed campus.In 1974, Boeing began construction of the
first major PRT project in Morgantown, West
Virginia, designed to shuttle students between WVU's two campuses. The original WVU campus, located in the valley of the
Monongahela River was already fully developed. Because it proved
impossible to develop any more valley land, WVU expanded to a separate parcel a couple of miles away on the other side of a
ridge.The WVU PRT has been in continuous operation since 1975, with about 15,000 riders per
day (as of 2003). The system uses about 70 vehicles, with an advertised capacity of 20 people each (although the real number is
more like 15). The system connects the university's disjointed campus using 5 stations (Walnut, Beechurst, Engineering, Towers,
and Medical) and a 4 mile (6 km) track. The vehicles are rubber-tired and powered by electrified rails. Steam heating keeps the
elevated guideway free of snow and ice. Most students habitually use it. This system was not sold to other sites because the
heated track has proven too expensive.