Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s renewed pledge of support Monday for the Coalfields Expressway is welcome news.

Kaine, who toured Southwest Virginia Monday with members of his cabinet, received a briefing on the four-lane highway project from transportation officials during a stop in Norton. Following the meeting, Kaine once again stated his support for the Coalfields Expressway, and the private-sector partners working with the Commonwealth on the project.

Kaine said the Coalfields Expressway is critical to economic growth in Southwest Virginia. The governor awarded a $2 million grant in July from the state’s Transportation Partnership Opportunity Fund to help initiate preliminary project development activities on the four-lane highway.

His comments Monday in support of the Coalfields Expressway will hopefully help to keep momentum rolling on the project.

Two private coal companies are partnering with the Commonwealth to construct the Coalfields Expressway in Southwest Virginia. The private sector partners, Pioneer Group Inc. and Alpha Natural Resources, LLC, a subsidiary of Alpha Natural Resources, Inc., are expected to help substantially reduce the cost of building the new four-lane highway by creating the roadway bed through the extraction of coal.

The roadway is proposed to extend 51 miles through the coal producing counties of Buchanan, Dickenson and Wise in Southwest Virginia where it will ultimately connect with the neighboring West Virginia segment of the Coalfields Expressway currently under construction in McDowell, Wyoming and Raleigh counties.

While construction on the Coalfields Expressway continues in southern West Virginia, state and federal officials are still struggling to jump-start the project in neighboring Virginia, where it has yet to reach a construction stage.

In West Virginia, an unpaved segment of the four-lane highway has already been completed in McDowell County, and about 3.5 miles of the roadway is complete in Raleigh County.

We join Kaine is voicing our support for the construction of the Coalfields Expressway in Southwest Virginia, as well as neighboring southern West Virginia. It is our hope that continued support from key leaders such as Kaine, and U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher, can help expedite construction on the four-lane highway in Southwest Virginia.

Both the Coalfields Expressway and the King Coal Highway are critical to the region’s future.