ELKINS, W.Va. — Corridor H, with an original estimated completion date of 2036, may be farther along than many West Virginians realize.
And the possibility of more immediate funding if state residents pass a road bond on Oct. 7 could bring completion of the Appalachian highway even closer to striking distance.
“It’s important to remember Corridor H has been waiting 50 years or a little over,” said Robbie Morris, president of the Corridor H Authority. “It’s the last of the Appalachian Highway system in West Virginia. For West Virginia — the region of the state and really the whole state — it’s important to get it finished now.”
Justice’s transportation secretary, Tom Smith, specified that among the targeted bond projects is a section from Kerens, Randolph County, to Parsons, Tucker County.
“So that’s really important,” Smith said. “But what’s really neat is, we’re reaching the tipping point where traffic is going to start coming across central West Virginia instead of going to Maryland or up around Virginia. So I think it’s going to open up and traffic will start flowing across there.”
So much progress has been made on Corridor H in recent years — and so much more progress is possible — that advocates are aiming to complete the West Virginia portion by 2020.
“There are still a lot of people who don’t realize the progress that’s been opened up between Davis and Mount Storm and that area,” said Morris, during an interview in his office at the Randolph County Development Authority.
“Probably four times a month, I’ll get calls from people saying ‘Hey, I just drove on Corridor H for the first time,’ and they give me their opinions.”
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