A new coalition, forged to speak with "one voice," is preaching the gospel of highway building it views as critical to promoting and sustaining economic growth in West Virginia.

Yet, that voice — West Virginians for Better Transportation — has no intention of suggesting any ways to raise cash at a time when road money is scarce and regions are battling for what little money is there.

Nor does the group intend to lobby lawmakers or Gov. Joe Manchin to pitch for highway needs in southern West Virginia, says its chairman, Joe Deneault.

"The issue is making everyone aware there is a problem," Deneault told members and reporters at a Tuesday news briefing at Beckley Common Council chambers.

"West Virginians are great at solving problems. But they have to believe that it’s there and something that has to be dealt with."

Composed of more than 50 members, mostly business firms, the group won’t propose any taxes, but some members, individually, might track the work of legislative interims panels studying roads and taxes, Deneault said.

"If you look at our coalition, you’ll see there’s probably not a single source of funding that wouldn’t lose some of that coalition," he told a reporter.
Over the next two decades, he pointed out, the Division of Highways will struggle to find $20 billion for 170 projects it considers vital to the economy.

In reality, Deneault said, "a very small fraction of those projects will ever be built."

"Our goal is to educate our citizens about this critical problem and about the critical need for putting not only additional monies into building a better transportation system but keeping up the system we have today," he said.

The group has named its mission "Keep West Virginia Moving."

Bill Baker, representing the 4-C Economic Development Authority, told of major projects in Fayette and Nicholas counties on hold status due to lack of a combined $1.2 million in road access money.

Baker used his time to plug the ambitious Z-Way project as "absolutely critical" to Raleigh County’s multi-pronged development that includes industrial parks at Pinecrest and the airport, and the expansion of The Resort at Glade Springs.

"Raleigh County is in an economic boon," Baker told the gathering. "We think there ought to be a better way to prioritize and put the money that’s there into better use."

One developer already has rejected two projects worth a combined 400 jobs along Eisenhower Drive because of the traffic congestion, Baker said.

Afterward, Baker said the stock response to his pleas for highway funding from Manchin and Transportation Secretary Paul Mattox has been that Raleigh County should lean on a new state law enabling counties to impose a user fee on anyone working in their borders to sell bonds and raise money for roads.

"I reminded both Gov. Manchin and Secretary Mattox that people in southern West Virginia are already paying a user fee every time we use the turnpike and have been for years," Baker said.

Baker said he doubted any county would use this new law as a means of leveraging money for roads.

"That again is taxing the local employees for something the state ought to be doing," he said.

Organized as a 501-c-3 group, WVBT is "an idea whose time has come," Beckley Mayor Emmett Pugh said.

"Let’s face it — roads, water and sewer are the economic building blocks for any county or any city," the mayor said.

"We’re trying to speak to Charleston with one voice to let them know exactly where we are and what our priorities are."
Grim statistics on charts formed a backdrop to the speakers — 27 percent of West Virginia’s roads deemed poor or mediocre; 37 percent of the bridges deficient or functionally obsolete; a fatality rate 50 percent higher than the national average; and a 67 percent growth in interstate highway travel by 2026.

House Speaker Bob Kiss, D-Raleigh, took a trip down memory lane, reminding attendees that two decades ago, I-64 was incomplete, that U.S. 19 to Summersville wasn’t four-laned, and before the Cranberry Creek project, flooding was common.

But in the late 1980s, he pointed out, under former Gov. Gaston Caperton, the state decided to pay down debts (an extra $1 million is going into retirements alone this year), taxes would be stabilized and infrastructure would get some long-neglected attention.

"None of that would have happened but for the foresight we showed in the late 1980s and a commitment to building those infrastructure projects," he said.

Then, the idea was to launch infrastructure projects as one drops "ink spots" on a sheet of paper and allow them to spread.

"There are still substantial additional needs," the speaker said of road.

By ignoring them, he warned, the state would make "a terrific mistake," and southern West Virginia needs an improved system as "an economic catalyst."

"If you ignore that, and don’t put resources, no matter how tight times are, into those continuations of infrastructure in those areas, you’re not going to see the continued economic growth," Kiss said.

"They go hand in hand. There’s no denying it."

Marc Meachum, representing the Greater Bluefield Chamber of Commerce, plugged for the King Coal Highway as "the forgotten highway in West Virginia."

"It’s the best opportunity for southern West Virginia to move forward," he said.

"We are growing, progressing. I feel like that highway should be a big part of it."

Meachum spoke of a "triangle approach," allowing King Coal and the Coalfields Expressway to link up with the existing Interstate 77.

"If we could make a triangle out of those roads, get that built now, get that started, we have a real opportunity to continue the economic growth in Raleigh County, continue the economic growth in Mercer County and be a big benefit to what’s in McDowell County."
Baker called the Coalfields Expressway "one of the greatest" ideas ever proposed, saying it would help depressed regions such as Wyoming and McDowell counties, especially with a new federal prison in the works there.

"There’s no good way in or out of McDowell County," he said. "It’s no better than when I grew up there."