A member of the Mason County
Commission says he’s newly optimistic about expansion plans for Route 35 after
talking with state officials this week.
“We are closer now….than we’ve ever
been before and it puts a smile on my face,” Rick Handley said of plans to
widen a 14.6 mile stretch of Route 35.
It’s a road that has seen a list of
deadly accidents over the years. Just this week, a Missouri
“It is pretty bad and the bad part
of it is you go from a four-lane and you’re going 70 miles per hour and then
you go down to a two-lane which you’re supposed to go 55 miles per hour,”
Handley said. “It’s the only 14.6 miles of two-lane road between Michigan and Florida
He is among the many officials and
residents who have been sounding the alarms about the dangers of Route 35 for
years. The problem, up to now, has been finding funding for four-lane
construction.
On Tuesday, Governor Earl Ray
Tomblin announced the start what could be West Virginia’s first public-private
partnership (PPP) for a highway project — 3.3 miles of the Coalfields
Expressway in southern West Virginia that will eventually connect the existing
highway that begins at Interstate 64/Interstate 77 in Beckley to Mullens.
The state plans to advertise soon
for private partners on the project with work tentatively set to begin in the
spring.
DOH officials have said what is
happening with the Coalfields Expressway could serve as a model for Route 35
and other future road projects.
On Wednesday, DOH officials said
the agency had almost completed the right of way, or property buying, process
for Route 35 while work to update environmental documents continues.
Early indications are three
contracts will be needed for the expansion — two grade and drain contracts to
build the road bed at an estimated $80 million each and one paving project at
an estimated $50 million. Five bridges will also have to built for that stretch
of highway.
The first of the grade and drain
contracts could be put out for bid as soon as this fall, but because the
details have not yet been finalized, the best case scenario, according to what
Handley said the DOH has told him, would see the completion of the four-lane in
Mason County within the next four years.
Handley said he’s grateful there’s
at least some kind of plan for the long-delayed project. “I’m really, really
higher than a kite about this project now,” Handley said.
The Legislature approved changes to
the Public-Private Transportation Facilities Act last year which cleared the
way for more such private partnerships to build roads in West Virginia
With a PPP, in general, the state
would partner with private companies for upfront funding and then pay off road
projects in established installments.
