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May 7, 1997
Authority Selects Browning as Executive Director
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The Coalfields Expressway Authority at its meeting on May 1, 1997, at Twin Falls State Park and Resort, hired Richard Browning of Oceana, West Virginia, as its Executive Director. Browning, a former member of the House of Delegates representing the twenty-third delegate district (Wyoming & Mercer Counties) from 1989 to 1996, was selected from a field of twelve applicants. He will assume the position on a part-time basis beginning June 1, 1997, according to D. Michael Goode, chairman of the Authority.
Browning, 44, currently is employed by the Wyoming County Board of Education as Assistant Principal at Oceana High School. "I am looking forward to aggressively pursuing the construction of this highway with the Coalfields Expressway Authority. I have worked on this highway for the past eight years as a private citizen and legislator representing two of the counties it traverses. Anyone traveling in the state of West Virginia can see that economic development follows the construction of highways. I believe the construction of this highway is the only viable solution to the economic problems in the coalfields of Southern West Virginia," Browning said.
The original legislation proposing the construction of the highway was introduced in 1989 by Browning and Rick Staton, (D-Wyoming), when both were freshmen delegates representing Wyoming and McDowell Counties. Later that session, the entire Legislature passed the resolution. Former Governor Gaston Caperton (D-West Virginia), then created the Coal Highways Interim Committee which studied the feasibility of constructing the highway. As a member of that committee, Browning was instrumental in seeing that a recommendation for the construction of the highway came out of the committee. Since that time, routing and environmental studies have been completed by the West Virginia Division of Highways. Fifty million dollars in funding for the studies was provided in the Federal Intermodal Surface Transportation Infrastructure Act of 1991 by Congressman Nick Rahall (D-West Virginia) and Senator Robert C. Byrd (D-West Virginia). The Federal share of the total estimated $750 million will be 80 percent under the legislation. However, the ISTEA legislation also states "There is authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary for design and construction of the project known as 'Coalfields Expressway' from Beckley, West Virginia to the West Virginia-Virginia state line..."
The proposed 70 mile highway will be a modern limited access four-lane highway passing near Mullens, Pineville, and Welch, West Virginia. The construction of the highway was endorsed by Governor Cecil Underwood (R-West Virginia), in his State of the State address in February. Political and civic leaders in all the three affected counties, Raleigh, Wyoming, and McDowell, have endorsed the construction of the highway.
The United States Congress is set to pass additional federal highways legislation this year. Browning stated that it is extremely important that existing language in the law be preserved in the new legislation. "One of the first things I plan to do as Executive Director of the Authority is to implore our representatives in Washington to keep this plan on the front burner," Browning said. "As a matter of fact, I have already contacted Congressman Rahall's office to request updated information on the legislation and to set up an appointment to meet with him personally."
The Coalfields Expressway Authority was created by legislation in the 1996 session of the legislature. The nine-member board is made up of three members from each of the counties through which the proposed highway will be routed.. The county commissions in each county make the appointments to the authority. Authority members include D. Michael Goode, Randy Price, and Jack Feller from Wyoming County; William Burl Laxton, J. Knox McConnell, and Carl Urps from McDowell County; and William H. Baker, John Humphreys, and Sally Susman from Raleigh County.
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