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| The Coalfields Expressway Story |
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House Concurrent Resolution 28, calling for the construction of a new highway linking Interstates 64/77 in Beckley, West Virginia, with Route 460 in Grundy, VA, was introduced in the West Virginia Legislature in 1989. The new proposed highway would generally follow State Route 16 through Raleigh and Wyoming Counties and State Route 83 in McDowell County. The original design concept for the highway was two-lane construction with three-lane passing areas on the mountains. During that same session of the legislature, the HCR 28 was combined with two other highway resolutions and passed. Later that year, the Coal Highways Interim Committee was established to study all three highway proposals. At the conclusion of the meetings of the committee, all three highways were endorsed by the committee and recommended for construction as four lane highways.
In 1991, the U. S. Congress enacted the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) which provided federal assistance for highway studies, design, and construction. The ISTEA identified the Coalfields Expressway as a "congestion relief" project in West Virginia and appropriated $50 million for the project, largely through the efforts of U. S. Senator Robert C. Byrd and U. S. Representative Nick Joe Rahall. Congress defined the highway as extending from Beckley, WV, to the West Virginia/Virginia state line. In 1995, Congress enacted the National Highway System Designation Act (NHSDA). This legislation identified the Coalfields Expressway as a "Congressional High Priority Corridor" and included it as part of the National Highway System (NHS). The NHSDA extended the Coalfields Expressway to Pound, Virginia, generally following VA 83 through Buchanan, Dickenson,and Wise counties, Virginia.
As a result of the state and congressional legislative activity, in August, 1992, WVDOT began holding informational public meetings on the highway and initiated the Coalfields Expressway Project with a location study, that included an environmental inventory, corridor development, and a cost analysis. WVDOT included the Coalfields Expressway in its State Transportation Improvement Plan (STIP) on March 2, 1993. Additionally in 1993, WVDOT began the integrated National Environmental Policy Act and Section 404 of the Clean Water Act (NEPA/404) process for the highway. Consequently, WVDOT proceeded with a Purpose and Need Study in 1994, an Alternatives Study in 1995, a Pre-Draft Environmental Impact Statement in 1996 and a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) shortly thereafter. This DEIS is based upon technical reports that inventory social, natural, cultural, and physical resources within the build alternatives. In April, 1998, public meetings were held soliciting public comment on each of the four remaining build alternatives. In September, 1998, the Preferred Alternative was selected by WVDOT and submitted to the Federal Highways Administration (FHWA) for approval in the DEIS.
In an effort to better facilitate the construction of the Coalfields Expressway, the West Virginia Legislature in 1996 formed the Coalfields Expressway Authority, a public corporation acting as an advisory board for the highway and advocating the highway's construction and promoting economic development associated with that construction. In 1997, the Coalfields Expressway Authority hired an executive director and opened its office in Pineville, West Virginia.
Congress passed the Transportation Efficiency Act for the 21st Century (TEA 21) in 1998, which funneled an additional $22.7 million to the highway, bringing the total available for initial construction to $72.7 million in federal dollars.
WVDOT requested designation of the Coalfields Expressway officially as U.S. 121 in May of 1998. It will be constructed as a four lane partially-controlled access highway with at-grade intersections. It will be built to the same specifications as Corridors G, H, and other Appalachian Development Highway System highways in West Virginia.
Members of the Coalfields Expressway Authority as well as the maps showing the Preferred Build Alternative and other information are available at this site. To receive information about the Coalfields Expressway, click here, write at the address below, or inquire by telephone at the number below. A booklet containing maps and other useful information will be mailed to you the next business day.
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