It’s been 30 years in the making, but Gov. Jim Justice said Monday that projects to finally finish the Coalfields Expressway are moving forward.
Justice was in Welch for the construction of a new 5.1 mile section that will connect Welch to the highway. 16 (in Wyoming County) and the Coalfields Expressway, which will eventually run from Beckley (I-77 and I-64) to the Virginia state line near Bradshaw.
“I want to see this whole road completed, all the way to Virginia,” he said. “We have already done some sections. There may be other sections that still need to be finished after you leave. But when I leave office, I will leave enough stones to be completely finished.”
The justice is serving his second term, which ends on December 31, 2024.
This $148 million project, which begins near the Federal Corrections Institution (FCI), off Rt. 16 north of Welch, includes the construction of two ramps, two bridges and will require more than 16 million yards of excavation. More than 10,000 feet of large diameter drainage pipe will also be laid for the project.
“You haven’t given up (on the project,” Justice said. “There are a lot of you who have put your hands up and stayed the course. This Coalfields Freeway … has been in the works for over 30 years. Really, it should have been done years ago.”
Justice said this stretch is “another big step” and “we’ll cross the finish line. You don’t have to worry about me. I’m as committed as Babydog to nuggets.”
He said when he ran for governor in 2016 there was a stretch from Crab Orchard to Mullins, about 10 miles, that was not yet complete with a “rough” road already partially cut.
“I stood on the podium there (where the Coalfields Expressway ended at the time) and said, ‘I’m going to build the damn highway,'” Justice said, and the highway was built. “We all have to maintain the same level of enthusiasm.”
That’s when Justice was laying the groundwork for its Roads To Prosperity program, which eventually created the funding for the Welch project.
Justice said starting the Welch project “is very special to me.”
“My roots are in southern West Virginia and this absolutely needs to be completed,” he said. “This is another big key project to complete.”
Justice said he could remember when a “rough grading” of the highway was done, but then left for two decades.
“But we’re not stopping today,” he said. “It’s a good day.”
Jimmy Wriston, secretary of the state Department of Transportation, was also in attendance, saying the project is a crucial step toward eventually building the highway.
“The governor. Justice is the man with the vision, through his Roads To Prosperity program, to complete projects like this across the state,” he said. “This groundbreaking marks a wonderful, wonderful day for McDowell County. This is the key project. This is the only one. That’s when the drum starts beating towards the end of the project until we finish the Coalfields Expressway once and for all.”
Wriston said there are many highway projects underway across the state and “this one here just started.”
McDowell County’s first four-lane highway will help bring jobs and prosperity to the county, he added.
Future plans are also in the works to build a five-mile stretch of the Coalfields Expressway from Mullens to Twin Falls State Park and a three-mile link from Twin Falls to Pineville.
Wriston also said they are working on the 3.8-mile stretch of the King Coal Highway in Mercer County that connects Rt. 460 and I-77 to Airport Road should be finished by the end of the year and possibly open to traffic early next year.
“It will be a good usable section,” he said.
“Project after project” is happening in the state, he said, and past “underinvestment” in infrastructure led to the dire need for road maintenance and new roads.
“In 2016 we elected a guy with a big, bold vision who had a path forward,” he said. “Last year we opened the first four-lane highway in Wyoming County. This will have the same impact for McDowell County. If we are going to compete in the modern world, we must have modern, efficient and safe transportation.”
— Contact Charles Boothe at cboothe@bdtonline.com
