Justice: Coalfields Expressway is a 'priority'

Jun. 8—Governor Jim Justice said Wednesday that the Corridor H and Coalfields Expressway projects are among his top transportation priorities for West Virginia.

The Republican governor made the comments during his weekly virtual administration briefing. The Coalfields Expressway project extends through McDowell, Wyoming and Raleigh counties in West Virginia. Construction is currently continuing on a section of the road in McDowell County near Welch. Another section of the expressway is currently being used by motorists from Beckley in Raleigh County to Mullens in Wyoming County.

Justice identified Corridor H as his top priority followed by the Coalfields Expressway.

Corridor H is the only section of the Appalachian Corridor system that hasn't been finished. When it is completed, it will connect Interstate 79 near Weston with the junction of Interstates 81 and 66 in Front Royal, Va., according to the Associated Press.

"The second priority is the Coalfields Expressway," Justice said. "We need to connect southern West Virginia."

Construction began last summer on a five-mile section of the Coalfields Expressway in McDowell County between Welch and the planned Route 16 intersection with the King Coal Highway in Wyoming County. The almost $150 million project is slated to be finished in 2026 and will be McDowell County's first four-lane highway.

Corridor H, in return, will help to connect the Mountain State with "the whole northeast," Justice said.

Justice didn't mention the King Coal Highway project, which is the local southern West Virginia corridor of the future Interstate 73/74/75, during Wednesday's administration briefing. Work is currently nearing a completion on a $58 million section of the King Coal Highway near Bluefield.

However, no additional design or construction contracts have been announced to date that will allow for a continuation of the project in Mercer County once the current contract near Bluefield is finished later this summer.

"There certainly has to be priorities," Justice said. "But at the same time, every single road is a priority."

Justice said his Roads to Prosperity program, which included funding in 2019 for the current King Coal Highway contract in Bluefield, has created "thousands and thousands" of jobs across the state.

"It has started us on a pathway of healing and changing our image," Justice said of the Roads to Prosperity program.

In another announcements during Wednesday's briefing, Justice said Clean Vision Corporation (Clean Vision) will leverage a $50 million investment in a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility, focused on converting plastic feedstock into precursors for recycled content plastics and clean fuels, in Quincy in eastern Kanawha County; announced the award of $2,118,686 million in West Virginia Child Advocacy Center grants to funds to 22 projects, including an $83,550 award for Child Protect of Mercer County; announced the award of $5,472,061 in West Virginia Community Corrections Grant program funds to 30 projects, including a $287,500 award for Mercer County and a $125,000 award for McDowell County.

— Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com

— Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com. Follow him @BDTOwens