PINEVILLE -- Preliminary engineering contracts have been awarded to 10 different engineering firms on the remaining 22 miles of the Coalfields Expressway not currently under design between the interchange of the Coalfields Expressway (US 121) and King Coal Highway (I-73/74) on top of Indian Ridge at the border of Wyoming and McDowell Counties and Sophia in Raleigh County. The interchange itself as well as a three mile section of highway near Sophia have been under preliminary design since September, 1998.
This announcement means that all of the highway between the two projects is now under preliminary design, with the exception of the leg of the road that runs from Sophia to I-77/64 in Raleigh County, according to Richard Browning, Executive Director of the Coalfields Expressway.
Browning stated that even though the engineering design is called "preliminary", it is basically the same as "final", since this "preliminary" phase of engineering accomplishes the bulk of the work needed for "final" design. Both types of highway engineering are based on a scale of one inch equals fifty feet. However, because of Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) regulations, a project cannot be labeled "final" design until the environmental work is completed, he added.
"The only thing we lack on the environmental side is a signed Final Environmental Impact Statement and a signed Record of Decision by officials from the FHWA and West Virginia Division of Highways (WVWVDOH). Consultants are proceeding as rapidly as possible with the environmental work and it is nearing completion," Browning said. "When we get signatures on the two documents, all of the projects will move to the final design stage, which is the actual engineering necessary for complete construction contract plans and Right of Way acquisition. Doing this preliminary engineering design work concurrently with the environmental work speeds up the actual construction of the highway because the bulk of the engineering work needed for final design is done under the preliminary phase."
Engineering firms receiving the preliminary design contracts are listed below in the order that the contracts were let beginning at the interchange in McDowell County and proceeding north to Sophia in Raleigh County. .
- TERRADON 2 miles
- Potesta and Associates, Inc. 2.5 miles
- HDR Engineering, Inc 2.8 miles
- ms consultants, inc. 1.6 miles
- SAI Consulting Engineers, Inc. 2 miles
- E.L. Robinson Inc. 2.2 miles
- Palmer Engineering Company 2.8 miles
- Wolpert, LLP 3.5 miles
- Vaughn & Melton Consulting Engineers 3 miles
- L.A. Gates 2 miles
This announcement by the WVWVDOH signals that all sections of the highway between the above referenced interchange of the Coalfields Expressway and King Coal Highway near Welch and the northern terminus of the highway near Sophia are all under final design. Earth Tech was awarded a contract for final design on the three mile section of highway near Sophia in Raleigh County in September, 1998. Pentree, Inc. was awarded a contract for final design of the above referenced interchange of the Coalfields Expressway and King Coal Highway during May of 1998.
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