How two men with local ties are helping Somerset County get the money to finish Route 219

SOMERSET ― Getting the money to finish Route 219 to the Maryland border should remain a priority for Somerset County officials, a resident urged last week.

During the public comment portion of the county commissioners' meeting, Jeff Cook said he's lived and worked in Somerset County for 55 years. He said his father, George Cook, was part of the drive to finish Route 219 to the Maryland border.

"Because local petty politics fouled things up we lost the funding. For 40 years we got nothing," he said.

Cook said finally after 40 years, the Route 219 corridor was completed to Meyersdale.

"But we didn't get the money to finish it," he said.

Cook said they learned they had to play by Washington, D.C., rules, and after three years, Somerset County got $63 million to use toward the final section. He then urged the commissioners to keep the project moving forward.

"The common sense of the thing is, you can't lose sight of the goal. We gotta get that (highway) completed," Cook said. "Infrastructure drives business. Lobbyists are expensive. If you want to play Washington's game, you get the money.

"Don't screw this up. Get to the finish line," Cook told the commissioners. "Don't let this get away from us."

And help might be in place.

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Somerset County men lobbying for Route 219 funding

Two Somerset County natives, now lobbyists in Washington, D.C., are part of the effort to get Route 219 finished.

Ron Klink, originally from Meyersdale, is now a senior policy advisor at Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP, and Michael Frazier, originally from Somerset, is now a principal at Pendulum Strategies LLC. Both men spoke at the commissioners' meeting about the work they're doing to gain support and funding to finish Route 219 from Hunsrick Mountain to Grantsville, Maryland.

Klink, a former U.S. representative, said when his company first took on this project in 2020, Pennsylvania was getting no money from the Appalachian Development Highway System. He said he spoke to the ADHS commission and said, 'You need to get behind the 219 project.'

"We heard from business after business that they needed Route 219 finished," he said. "This is where I was raised. I'm honored to come here to make a difference."

Klink said $70 million was already paid toward the project, but now inflation has become a big issue.

"We thought $200 million would be enough when it started. Now construction costs are over $300 million," he said. "What they don't know (yet) is some of the environmental stuff. We're not sure how much it will cost."

Klink said the latest information he's received says there are coal mining concerns.

Another issue he sees is, with the election in a couple of weeks, new people will be coming into office, new people will be working in the various businesses and they won't be as knowledgeable about the project.

"They don't know the project. You have to keep punching every day," Klink said. "You have to have sustained knowledge on these things – where you're going and where you've been."

Michael Frazier said, "Ron Klink clearly understands how Congress works. I understand how the process works."

He said when they were contacted in 2020, they knew they wanted to get Route 219 done. "We're going to ask you to work with Ron Klink to move forward with this," Frazier said. "You gotta know how the system works in D.C., but also in Harrisburg. Everybody has highways and are competing for funding."

He said it would take another surface transportation bill to get that money.

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"We have to sustain the money for this project or we're not going to get it," Klink said. "Somebody has to continue to press."

He said they have the money for preconstruction work, but only half of the money needed for the construction of the highway.

"We're working on other projects that we try to help and succeed in getting funding for," Klink said. "If we see an opportunity for getting funding, we try to get it."

Route 219 update meeting set

PennDOT has scheduled the next meeting to present the two routes being considered for the final section of Route 219. Meetings are scheduled on Nov. 16, at 2:30 p.m. for local officials and at 4:30 p.m. for the public, at the Salisbury Volunteer Fire Department, 385 Ord St.

"There's a lot of information because there's been so much work done," said Commissioner Gerald Walker.

"It's been a pleasure working with you," he told the lobbyists. "We are getting 219 done."

This article originally appeared on The Daily American: Somerset County still on the radar for Route 219 project funding