By Go North Alliance

The West Virginia Division of Highways (DOH) has announced another delay of the Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (SDEIS) for the Parsons to Davis section of Corridor H. Instead of Oct. 5, it is now supposed to be released on Nov. 5, 2026. This is the shortest delay yet, so they seem to be getting closer. 

DOH staff have told Go North that the SDEIS will include a study of both the DOH’s Revised Original Preferred Alignment (ROPA) and a northern alignment. We remain hopeful that DOH is studying both with the same thoroughness, as required by the National Environmental Policy Act. 

As a reminder, the ROPA would be built between the towns of Davis and Thomas. A separate truck route is proposed around Thomas that would connect US 219 North and WV 32. The Northern Route we support would pass north of Thomas, avoiding the entire area between the towns. There would be no truck route with all its extra problems.

The Go North Alliance is NOT trying to stop the corridor, but rather is advocating for the best route for our communities and surrounding environment. Those of us who live, work, and play in Tucker County are major stakeholders in what happens here. And there’s a lot at stake! The ROPA would:

• Disrupt daily life on our mountaintop forever. The route is proposed to go under Route 32 between Davis and Thomas, with a new overpass built for 32. This is not a simple project. Look how long it took to get the sewers replaced in Davis. Now imagine the noise, mess, and disruption of a multi-year effort to build the overpass and four-lane beneath for the corridor. Picture extended delays getting your kids to and from school or heading to the facilities at Blackwater Ridge (Cortland Acres), or to Shop-n-Save. Daily delays. For years. 

• Add to that the long-term delays caused by the proposed truck route. Again, years of disruptive construction and noise. Right past the school. Right past the library. 

• And with the way the truck route around Thomas is proposed, all of the trucks coming from the north to get on the Corridor will be required to make two left turns – one from the truck route onto 32, and another from 32 onto the access road for the ramps to the Corridor. Picture getting stuck behind one of these left-turning trucks. That change will be forever. 

• Not only would a poorly-sited project disrupt the lives of all of us who live here, but it would have a serious negative impact on our thriving tourist economy. Those who visit here come to escape the noise and congestion of cities, to find a peaceful place for outdoor recreation and to enjoy small, quiet, quaint mountain towns, not to vacation smack in the middle of the same mess they left behind. 

For all of us, the impacts go beyond the construction. The ROPA could: 

• Add noise and light pollution to Blackwater Falls State Park (which is in the process of applying for International Dark Sky certification). 
• Negatively impact the protected historic areas of the Blackwater Industrial Complex, with the planned placement of a massive bridge over the North Fork of the Blackwater River at Coketon. Further, the blasting and construction effort for the bridge could add acid mine drainage to the North Fork. 
• Irreparably damage the ecologically important and sensitive wetlands along the proposed route, including Big Run Bog. 

There is an alternative. A better alternative. A northern alignment will avoid all of the above issues, while still achieving the connection goals of Corridor H. And, despite persistent misinformation to the contrary, a northern alignment can be designed and built to avoid Thomas’s watershed/water supply. 

Once the SDEIS is published, there will be a required public comment period, and the Go North Alliance will notify you of when this happens. Make your views known. Life as we know it on our mountaintop is at stake.

P.S. For good reasons, Go North has focused on the highway’s impacts and benefits for our towns, historic sites, the State Park – the entire area on the mountain. We haven’t talked as much about ROPA’s route from Mackeyville to the high school. So DOH claims that we must support their alternative. Not true. 

That section’s narrow, difficult terrain, with its unstable geology and National Forest-protected species, has no room for a four-lane. Less destructive improvements can be made. We have seen Corridor H construction failures between Elkins and Parsons as a warning. So should the DOH.