While West Virginia has four six-year priority lists for highway construction, the Coalfields Expressway didn’t make any of them.

The Coalfields Expressway, when completed, will be the first four-lane for both Wyoming and McDowell counties.

"That shows you where we rank," Richard Browning, executive director of the Coalfields Expressway Authority, told authority members Thursday morning during their meeting.

The group also reviewed those lists and discussed the criteria used to determine the priorities.

The state’s criteria to determine a road’s priority ranking includes economic impact, traffic flow, safety, environmental concerns and local planning, Browning said.

Members also agreed to join Keep West Virginia Moving, a statewide group organized to raise public awareness of the need for an improved transportation system and the costs associated with those improvements.

Browning explained the design of the two-mile segment of the Coalfields Expressway from Sophia to Mullens, specifically Allen Creek to Big Ridge, is 84 percent complete. The construction bids are expected to be let in October, he said.
This segment will bring the road to within six miles of Mullens, he noted.

Once the most recent funding appropriation is spent, Browning said, there is no money left for the Coalfields Expressway.

In other business, officials discussed an official opening for the completed segment of the road in Raleigh County. Browning said the vast majority of residents in that area support opening the road.

Construction of the new federal prison in McDowell County is expected to begin Oct. 2, according to Jack Caffrey, authority member. The group also briefly discussed the need for housing within Wyoming and McDowell counties once the prison is built.

Construction of the Coalfields Expressway has begun in both Raleigh and McDowell counties. The new four-lane will intersect with the King Coal Highway at the site of the new prison in McDowell County, just across the Wyoming County line.

The total estimated cost to construct the Coalfields Expressway is $920 million, excluding the cost of acquiring the land needed for right-of-way. The road is designated as part of the National Highway System and as a High Priority Corridor in the National Highway System Act of 1995.

Exits are planned for Mullens, Twin Falls State Park, Pineville and near the new Wyoming County industrial park on Welch-Pineville Road.

The Expressway, designated as U. S. 121, is now a proposed 116-mile four-lane road, with partially controlled access, that is currently set to run from I-64/77 in Beckley to U.S. 23 in Pound, Va., by way of Sophia, Mullens, Pineville, Welch and Bradshaw in West Virginia.

U.S. 23 is a major four-lane artery running through Pikeville, Ky., through Pound, Va., and tying into I-81 in the Johnson City/Kingsport, Tenn., area.