ABINGDON, Va. – New Virginia Secretary of Transportation Sheppard Miller III and other state transportation officials toured the Corridor Q highway worksite between the Kentucky border and Grundy Wednesday, prior to the Commonwealth Transportation Board’s public listening session.
That visit prepared them for what followed as about 20 elected officials and residents from that part of the region pleaded their case for funding for the Coalfields Expressway – the proposed $4 billion four-lane road that would extend from U.S. 23 in Wise County, across Dickenson and Buchanan County and on to the West Virginia state line. A portion of Corridor Q in Buchanan County overlays the Coalfields Expressway.
At present the state’s proposed $51 billion, six-year transportation plan for 2023-2028 only includes $171.3 million which would fund construction of 2.07 miles from Poplar Creek to connect to existing U.S. Route 460 at Grundy – which is the final phase of Corridor Q.
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Asked where any potential CFX funding might come from, Miller said, “We have more money than we’ve had in a while,” after the two-hour meeting.
“Virginia has been starved for transportation money but I think there are better years ahead. We’ll do our best to take care of everybody. It’s a big state with a lot of needs. There are a lot of needs here.”
In his remarks to open the meeting, Miller noted the state has access to federal infrastructure dollars and other monies that could be applied to transportation projects.
The project had many supporters in the room including state Del. Will Morefield, R-Tazewell, who said it was initially discussed while he was in elementary school.
“Many of our localities in the coalfields have lost half, if not more, of their population,” Morefield said. “The Coalfields Expressway is extremely important to economic development in the area…I’m confident we can finish this if we have an administration – and I’m confident Gov. Youngkin and his administration and you and your team are willing to do whatever it takes to continue this process and expedite the construction of this expressway. It is absolutely imperative.”
One woman, who spoke with the secretary after the meeting, reminded him that Gov. Youngkin last fall carried the counties where the route would be built, by overwhelming margins.
Jay Rife of Grundy, a member of the Buchanan County Industrial Development Authority said the whole region would benefit.
“I know it will help Buchanan, Dickenson and Wise where the road is going. But it will also open up Scott County and Lee County and I believe it will alleviate traffic problems on I-81 because we’ll have a lot of truck traffic go up into Beckley [West Virginia] and then down the Coalfields Expressway,” Rife said.
Peggy Kiser, chair of the Dickenson County Board of Supervisors, showed the board a 1999 edition of the Bristol Herald Courier which pictured her daughter – then a high school senior -- appearing before the Commonwealth Transportation Board 23 years ago urging them to fund this project.
“We are here today pleading for the same thing,” Kiser said. “In 23 years we still need new industry to come to our region. The Coalfields Expressway has been in the works for 28 years and is a long way from completion…I ask that you please look for more funding and let construction begin so that it will be finished – if not in our future – at least in the future of our children and grandchildren.”
Jonathan Belcher, executive director of the Coalfields Expressway Authority and Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority, said highway access is crucial to any kind of future development.
“In bringing prospects to the region, there is a reason why manufacturing and other companies locate in Washington County or Tazewell County or Scott County. That is because the transportation infrastructure is there…From an economic development standpoint, the Coalfields Expressway is very important.”
Belcher noted the General Assembly created the Coalfields Expressway Authority in 2017 but never provided any funding for it to operate.
“Because of the length of time it’s gone on and the price tag of the road, I think a lot of people may be disillusioned because it is a multi-billion dollar project it will never happen. I know that’s not the case because West Virginia is making it happen right now,” Belcher said, adding West Virginia’s governor has called for its portion of the road to be completed within the next 10 years.
A number of speakers urged the board to work with the Appalachian Regional Commission to try and link the remainder of the expressway to Corridor Q, to try and leverage additional federal funding.