12/20/2023 0 Comments West virginia road to nowhere![]() He sees no reason to make a four-lane connection between the existing stretches of Corridor H. Hugh Rogers, executive director of the West Virginia Highlands Commission, spearheaded a legal battle over Corridor H for nearly a decade that resulted in the reroute of the corridor around environmentally and historically sensitive areas like Blackwater Canyon near Davis. ![]() But this last section serves no purpose.” “They connected towns that needed better routes. “The sections of H that are already built were justified,” McKeown says. If Byrd is able to get H designated as a National Defense Highway, the road would be given the same funding status as an interstate.īonnie McKeown, a spokesperson for the Potomac Stewards, calls the terrorism justification preposterous, predominantly because the state of Virginia has refused to build their 20-mile section of the highway from I-81 to the West Virginia border. Lately Byrd has been pitching Corridor H as an escape route for D.C. Now, Senator Byrd is looking beyond the economic justification for the road, instead focusing on national security. ![]() The least successful corridors are in rural, isolated areas, like Corridor H. The most successful Appalachian Highway corridors service cities with at least 25,000 people. For example, I-68, running from Morgantown, W.Va., to Cumberland, M.D. A 1998 report by the commission showed that seven of the 12 corridors actually yielded a negative economic impact. The Appalachian Regional Commission’s own studies are less optimistic. “It will turn Canaan Valley into a day trip for D.C. The trip currently takes around four hours. by about an hour and a half,” says Bill Smith, director of tourism for the Tucker County Convention and Visitors Bureau. “This road will reduce travel time from D.C. A West Virginia Department of Highways study estimates a completed Corridor H could boost tourism related income by as much as 10 percent. The largest town on West Virginia’s portion of Corridor H is Elkins, which has less than 8,000 residents.īut tourism is West Virginia’s second-largest economic resource, and Corridor H is set to pass through Tucker County, home to two ski resorts, two state parks, and large swaths of the Monongahela National Forest. Current traffic volumes on completed portions of Corridor H don’t warrant a four-lane super highway. The national watch group, Citizens Against Government Waste, is holding Corridor H up as an example of political pork, labeling the highway a “Road to Nowhere.” Byrd’s budget play even prompted Fox News’ Sean Hannity to produce an “expose” on the road, depicting the highway as an example of government waste. Each mile of the road costs an estimated $20 million to build. Byrd calls Corridor H his “transportation crusade.” His earmark won’t go very far, however. But then Senator Byrd re-inserted $4.5 million into the 2010 budget to help build a small section of the road between Bismark and Davis. President Obama removed funds for the last 42 miles of Corridor H from his 2010 budget, labeling the project a wasteful earmark. As federal and state governments wrestle with debt, should we bother finishing the last pieces of the Appalachian Meanwhile, the price for building these few miles of road has escalated, catapulting these remote highways onto the national stage. Two of the most controversial roads yet to be built will travel through some of the South’s most beloved recreation areas. Fifty-five years later, that highway system is almost complete, with 2,672 miles of modern highway running through the mountains from Alabama to New York.īut many of the remaining highways to be built are slated to run through some of the most environmentally sensitive terrain in the Appalachians. with tourist destinations in West Virginia.Ĭorridor H is part of the Appalachian Regional Development Act, a bill passed in 1965 to stimulate the economy of the Appalachian region through the creation of a 3,090-mile highway system. Referred to as Corridor H, the four-lane highway would be an extension of I-66, connecting D.C. West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd-the longest serving member of Congress-wants to build a highway as his final legacy. Two proposed Appalachian highways target the Southeast’s wildest landscapes, and new rail alternatives are headed down the tracks.
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