On the Development Highway

When it comes to preparing a road map to the region's future, a modern four-lane transportation system is deemed critical to future growth.

From the ongoing construction of the King Coal Highway and the Coalfields Expressway to the relocation of U.S. Route 460 in Grundy and the controversial toll increases proposed for the West Virginia Turnpike, the region is on the move when it comes to new highway construction.

The King Coal Highway , also known as the local segment of the Interstate 73/74 corridor, continues to inch ever closer to Route 123, and the Mercer County Airport near Bluefield .

It will take an estimated $77 million to additional funding to get the four-lane highway from the new K.A. Ammar Interchange in Bluefield to the Mercer County Airport . An additional $5 million in federal funds was approved for the project in late July.

In early September, local supporters of the project launched a campaign for $80 million. That's the amount of federal and state funding needed to complete a usable segment of the highway, including two new bridges and the Nelson Walker interchange. The state Department of Highways already has agreed to award a $20 million contract this fall for one of the three bridges needed to reach the airport. The contract calls for the construction of a bridge over Route 19 near the existing K.A. Ammar Interchange.

Nelson Walker, a member of the King Coal Highway Authority board and executive director of the Interstate 73/74 Corridor Association, is asking area residents to write U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va. , U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., Gov. Joe Manchin, Secretary of Transportation and Highway Commissioner Paul Mattox and others to request funding support, and the completion of a usable segment of the I-73 corridor near Bluefield.

“The community can write letters to Sen. Byrd, Congressman Rahall, Gov. Manchin and to Commissioner Mattox in support of it,” Walker said. “It would be very helpful to have this to occur. Plus, the fact that it is extremely important with the equestrian park that they are talking about building. It's very important for this road to be there for that. That's economic development.”

The King Coal Highway will travel 95 miles through Mingo, Wayne , Wyoming , McDowell, and Mercer counties, with the Tolsia segment from Williamson to Huntington extending another 55 miles. It will interchange with the Coalfields Expressway in Welch near the Indian Ridge Industrial Park and the site of a proposed federal prison. The King Coal and Tolsia highways represent the West Virginia corridors of I 73/74, the No. 5 High Priority Corridor in the United States extending from Michigan to Myrtle Beach and connecting to Indiana , Illinois , and Iowa .

“The design part in Bluefield has been from the K.A. Ammar Interchange to Route 123 toward the airport,” Mitchem said. “It's either done, or most of it is done. We are nearing completion on the design work.

Mitchem said the interstate in Mercer County also will extend close to the site of the proposed equestrian park, a project planned jointly by the cities of Bluefield and Princeton in the Green Valley communities.

“For the McDowell County section, it will cross the coalfields right now where the prison will be built,” Mitchem said. “We are hoping for some economic development there, including a hotel. There are some good possibilities right now. We are hoping to see maybe a section coming from Isaban and Johnny Cake (Mountain) in the near future. So that should help McDowell County when it does. It hasn't been approved yet, but that section should be approved.

Federal and state funding awards earlier this year also will help to jump start construction of the Coalfields Expressway in southern West Virginia and Southwest Virginia .

The roadway will ultimately extend more than 113 miles through the coal producing counties of McDowell , Wyoming , and Raleigh in southern West Virginia and Buchannan, Dickenson, and Wise counties in Southwest Virginia .

Although construction on the Coalfields Expressway has been underway for several years in West Virginia , local, state, and federal officials are still struggling to jump-start the project in neighboring Virginia , where it has yet to reach a construction stage.

In West Virginia , an unpaved segment of the four-lane highway has already been completed in McDowell County and about 3.5 miles of the roadway is complete in Raleigh County . A larger contract expected to be awarded this fall could bring the four-lane highway to the Wyoming County line. In Southwest Virginia , a 51-mile segment of the roadway near the Paynesville community.

“We have spent upwards of a $150 million on the expressway thus far,” Delegate Richard Browning, D-Wyoming, also executive director of the Coalfields Expressway Authority said. “And we have about four miles open. It's not officially open yet, but people are using it in Raleigh County down in Slab Fork. We have announced in McDowell County the location of the federal prison. It is coming. We have the funding. That is the flagship economic development project along the road. We are due this fall to let another two-mail segment in the Slab Fork area of Raleigh County toward Mullens. We have several more projects in design, and we are waiting on federal money to build them.”

Browning said construction on the roadway began simultaneously during the summer of 2000 in McDowell and Raleigh counties. However, the authority has been working on the project since 1997.

Despite the construction completed over the past five years, Browning said he isn't necessarily happy with the progress to date on the four-lane highway.

“No, I'm not,” Browning said. I'm never pleased because we are not building it fast enough. But if you look at where we are in the amount of time, we are at a pretty record-setting level for highway construction. Even at that, it's not fast enough to rescue us from the economic problems we have as a result of not having roads and other forms of infrastructure.”

In Virginia , Gov. Timothy M. Kaine announced in late July the approval of a $2 million state grant aimed at helping to initiate preliminary project development activities on the expressway, as well as the U.S. Route 460 connector project. The move followed a plea from Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., to the Commonwealth Transportation Board. Boucher urged the board to make a “firm commitment” to the project.

Boucher, who spoke to members of the Commonwealth Transportation Board in July, said the coal companies that own the rights to the reserves have expressed a strong interest in partnering with the state of Virginia to begin construction on the Coalfields Expressway in Southwest Virginia as part of their mining operations.

--Charles Owens (Bluefield Telegraph)