Published: September 18, 2009 11:10 pm      

$2M laid down for Mercer’s King Coal Highway

BLUEFIELD — Another $2 million in federal funding has been approved for the King Coal Highway in Mercer County.

The funding was included in the Fiscal Year 2010 Transportation and Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill, which passed the Senate Thursday by a vote of 73-25, according to U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., who serves as a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Byrd said the $2 million will be used for a continuation of the construction of the King Coal Highway in Mercer County. The bill also allocates an additional $2 million for the construction of a section of the Coalfields Expressway extending from Allen Creek to Slab Fork in southern West Virginia.

The measure also included funding for several other highway projects across the state, including $4.5 million for the Corridor H project stretching from I-79 at Weston to the Virginia state line.

“With the approval of these funds, I have continued my commitment to the people of West Virginia to improving the infrastructure throughout our great state,” Byrd said. “These projects are an integral component of our efforts to create jobs, reduce traffic, make travel safer, and spur economic development and tourism opportunities for our local communities.”

King Coal Highway Executive Director Mike Mitchem said the additional $2 million will get the interstate corridor one step closer to Route 123 and the Mercer County Airport. Mitchem said the state will provide a 20 percent match to the federal award.

“We are just very pleased to get more money for the King Coal Highway,” Mitchem said. “It will be applied to the next section of the highway in Mercer County. Every allocation helps us reach this goal. We are really thankful for Sen. Byrd’s continued support, as well as Senator Rockefeller and Congressman Rahall. The state — once it clears Congress — there will be an 80-20 match. The state has never failed to give us a 20 percent match. We thank the governor and the Legislature for that.”

Mitchem said officials remain optimistic about the outlook for additional federal dollars, including money from the second round of federal stimulus transportation dollars.

The state Division of Highways is requesting $66.9 million from the new pool of federal stimulus transportation dollars to continue the construction of the King Coal Highway in Bluefield to the Mercer County Airport. The DOH is hoping to build a 2.16 mile section of the King Coal Highway in Mercer County connecting and creating a usable segment of the four-lane corridor with the existing K.A. Ammar Interchange and the new $16 million bridge near Stoney Ridge and Bluefield.

The DOH also is seeking $28.4 million from the second round of federal stimulus dollars to build an interchange of the Coalfields Expressway and the King Coal Highway near the new $232 million federal prison project at the Indian Ridge Industrial Park in Welch.

Furthermore, U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., has requested $60 million in the Fiscal Year 2010 Surface Transportation Project bill to continue construction of the King Coal Highway in Bluefield to the Mercer County Airport. Rahall also is requesting $44 million for the interchange of the King Coal Highway and the Coalfields Expressway in Welch.

The King Coal Highway Authority covers both the King Coal and Tolsia Highways. When built the new roads will travel from Bluefield to Huntington. The highway is the West Virginia corridor of I-73/74, which will travel from Sault St. Marie, Mich. to Myrtle Beach S.C., and to Chicago, Ill.

— Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com