By Hugh Rogers

Elections have consequences. We have been brutally reminded of that. But what difference will the new administration in Charleston make in what government builds? 

In a speech last month, Governor Morrisey promised new priorities for West Virginia’s highway system. He claimed to have no other choice. According to Morrisey, “One of the most disappointing things we found when we took office was, despite the billions of dollars that was spent the last eight years on highways and bridges, there was a lot of debt racked up without making the progress that we need.  

“We were designing and starting construction on highways all over the state, but we had no way to pay for it… We can’t even afford the existing highways that are on the books.” 

In sum, the Governor said, the Department of Transportation is “basically out of money.” 

This wasn’t the first time the new boss took a swipe at the old boss. But this time, the remedy was different. Not only would the Morrisey administration spend less, but it would also be spent differently. 

The limited funds available will be spent on renovation and replacement. “Maintenance is going to come first,” Morrisey said. 

It sounds straightforward and encouraging to protesters against the last sections of Corridor H. From Parsons to Davis and Wardensville to the Virginia line, current proposals would spend money we don’t have and devastate places we treasure.  

As part of the Go North Alliance, we have called for a different approach. Address the real need; save the parks, forests, rivers, trails, historic sites and special places that are our heritage and our future in a changing climate. Not to mention they’re what we share with visitors.  

In Tucker County, the most pressing need is a bypass for Thomas’s narrow shopping and entertainment streets. It should be built from the four-lane’s current terminus outside Davis to current US 219 west of Thomas. That’s the “replacement” part. The rest is “renovation.” 

In Hardy County, it makes no sense to ram a four-lane through the George Washington National Forest right up to the border. Virginia has declined to build it from there to I-81, its supposed terminus. If the Appalachian Regional Commission, which drew up the development highway corridors years ago, were doing its job today, it would halt West Virginia’s plan. The Appalachian Regional Commission Code obligates it to “coordinate” neighboring state’s projects “with the object of achieving continuity and reasonable uniformity.”  

It should not be surprising that another Appalachian state has faced the dilemma of a planned highway corridor that turned out to be neither environmentally nor economically sustainable. Corridor K, roughly connecting Asheville, North Carolina, and Chattanooga, Tennessee, offers an example. 

According to the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT), “This project is among the last of the Appalachian Development Highway System’s corridors to be completed due to the challenges associated with the region’s mountainous terrain and sensitive natural habitat.” Exactly what we could say about Corridor H. 

What NCDOT does not say, officially, is what Governor Morrisey has announced: they ran out of money. When that happened, nearly twenty years ago, it led to long and difficult negotiations with local governments, environmental advocacy groups, and other “stakeholders.” 

Finally, in 2010, NCDOT announced it would consider less-than-four lane alternatives, mostly along existing roads. It “reinitiated studies with a fresh approach.” And in 2022, construction began on a 12-mile section. The new design calls for “spot improvements” on US and State highways: 

• Improve road alignments of U.S. 129, N.C. 143 and N.C. 28  
• The highways will include two 12-foot lanes with 10-foot shoulders.    
• Increase shoulder widths and add passing and climbing lanes for the length of the project. 

You may imagine that Corridor K must be a “unicorn.” I want to assure you that other Appalachian corridors have been built with similar flexibility. Examples include Corridor U in Pennsylvania, Corridor Q in Virginia, and Corridor J in Kentucky. Appalachian Regional Commission’s Code allows appropriate changes as long as the corridors achieve a 50-mph design speed “between major System termini”—not mile by mile.  

We may not have the money, but we do have the precedents. Let’s follow them.