PINEVILLE — The next design project for the Coalfields Expressway will bring the four-lane highway within 3 miles of the Wyoming-Raleigh county border. That design project is expected to be completed this month, according to a state Division of Highways engineer.

In September, Wyoming County Circuit Clerk David "Bugs" Stover walked from Welch to Charleston in support of completing construction of the expressway in Wyoming and McDowell counties. Neither county has a four-lane highway.

However, since delivering nearly 2,000 individual petitions to Gov. Joe Manchin, Stover has been asked many times what is being done to complete the road.

"People keep asking me about the Coalfields Expressway, and I keep telling them that the governor and Highways are working on a logical way to move our highway forward," Stover said in a letter to David Cramer, DOH staff engineer. "They have begun to want something more specific."

Cramer replied, "... Our engineering division is coordinating with a consultant to complete the design of a grade and drain project that will extend from the end of the existing grade and drain project to about 2.5 miles from the Wyoming County line.
"Our intent is to complete this design project later this month, if at all possible," Cramer told Stover.

In September, Stover said, the governor was quick to point out the expressway was indeed on the state’s six-year highway improvement plan; there was just no state funding for it.

Delegate Richard Browning, D-Wyoming, who also serves as executive director of the Coalfields Expressway Authority, said about $58 million in leftover funding from other projects has been earmarked for the highway.

About $20 million of that will fund a 2-mile extension from Sophia toward Mullens, specifically Allen Creek to Big Ridge. This segment will bring road construction to within 6 miles of Mullens, he noted.

Additionally, three more designs will be completed for construction, he said.

The projected cost to complete the nearly 8 miles from Sophia to Mullens is more than $71 million, according to officials.

Construction of the road has begun in both Raleigh and McDowell counties.

Stover said additional federal money has been set aside for construction in Wyoming County.

"But they have to get to Wyoming County before they can use that money," he emphasized, "and once they get to use that federal funding, then the state will have to provide matching money."

The new four-lane will intersect with the King Coal Highway at the site of the new federal prison in McDowell County, just across the Wyoming County line.

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

— E-mail: mcbrooks@register-herald.com