Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, WV

Local News

Discussion

June 22, 2011

King Coal Highway supporters vow to fight for roadway

CHARLES OWENS Bluefield Daily Telegraph

BLUEFIELD — By

Bluefield Daily Telegraph

— Despite talk of billions in transportation dollars being targeted for cuts by lawmakers in Washington, supporters of the King Coal Highway and the Coalfields Expressway are not giving up their fight.

“Really, economic development is the one thing highways will bring in,” King Coal Highway Authority Executive Director Mike Mitchem said. “Look at all of the crashes on U.S. Route 52. It is one of the most dangerous roads in West Virginia for fatalities. We are going to have to do something and King Coal-Tolsia is the replacement for it.”

U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., who serves as the top Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, warned earlier this month that Republicans have pledged to introduce a bill that would cut transportation funding by more than $100 billion. Such a measure, according to Rahall, would shortchange transportation investments in the state that are necessary to grow the economy.

“It does concern me some but we are hopeful that transportation will not be one of the cuts,” Mitchem said. “Because it (a new federal highway bill) is very important to the surrounding counties. We are hoping to see some movement on that by the end of the year.”

As the wait for a new federal highway bill continues, supporters of the Coalfields Expressway in southern West Virginia are hoping to tap into unused state discretionary funds — along with funds not used on the U.S. Route 35 project — to help continue construction on the four-lane corridor, Sen. Richard Browning, D-Wyoming, said.

“We are on our last contract with money we have on hand,” Browning said of the Coalfields Expressway. “It will complete the road within four miles of Mullens.”

Browning said five paved miles of the expressway have been completed to date, along with five or six miles that have been graded. Another 20 miles of the project is in the design phase.

Browning said lawmakers in Washington must understand that economic development can’t occur without modern highways.

“When you look at our highways, and they are crumbling, and you look at our bridges, and they are crumbling —the status quo just doesn’t work,” Browning said. “Without highways you can’t move goods. Highways create economic development.”

Just like the Coalfields Expressway, some work is continuing on the King Coal Highway in southern West Virginia.

“They are supposed to do a bridge section for the Tolsia Highway at the Pritchard (interchange),” Mitchem said. “They are going to do that. Then we’ve got the section in Mingo that will be done by the middle of August.”

Mitchem said officials are hoping some work also can be completed on a cut at Stoney Ridge near Bluefield where the new twin interstate bridges end. However, the work can’t be completed until additional federal funds are found to extend the roadway toward Route 123, near the Mercer County Airport, which in return would create a usable segment of the  local I-73 corridor near Bluefield.

– Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com

Text Only
Local News