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Three-mile Corridor H stretch to be celebrated

ELKINS, W.Va. — The Robert C. Byrd Corridor H Highway Authority is hosting a ribbon-cutting today to celebrate a newly completed section of Corridor H.

The ceremony is set for 1 p.m. today near Buffalo Coal Road in the vicinity of the Tucker/Grant County line. The newly opened roadway is approximately three miles west of the Mount Storm Power Plant.

Various local, state and federal representatives have been invited and are expected to speak during the event. Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin may attend, depending on weather conditions.

Robbie Morris, president of the Robert C. Byrd Corridor H Authority, told The Inter-Mountain the completed section is a step in the right direction for the overall project. He added the ribbon-cutting is for an approximately 3-mile partition that crosses the county line and is part of an ongoing project to complete the roadway between near Davis and Mount Storm.

“Every mile that we get, takes us closer to our goal,” he said.

Morris pointed out this will be the first open portion of Corridor H in Tucker County

“Now that Tucker County will have completed miles, that means every county that Corridor H runs through will have completed miles,” he said.

Morris added that Tucker County will have significantly more miles completed next year when the rest of the section is completed to Davis.

“It should energize everyone and let them know that although it’s way overdue, there is great progress being made,” he said. “We look forward to the progress continuing.”

Morris said the event is open to the public and he encourages local residents to attend.

“Community support for any mileage that we open on Corridor H is important,” he said. “I encourage people to get out and show their support and I encourage (officials) to get it completed as soon as possible.”

Stretching 130 miles from I-79 at Weston, Corridor H runs to the Virginia border where it is designed to travel an additional 13 miles to the I-66/I-81 junction near Front Royal, Va.

With more than three quarters of the Corridor H highway project complete and the section around the newly completed section expected to be finished next year, the following segments are left undone: A 15.5-mile section from Kerens to Parsons, a 9.2 mile section from Parsons to Davis and a 6.8 mile section from Wardensville to the Virginia state line.

Without the use of Public-Private Partnership or the restructuring of state and federal funding for the project, officials have estimated the completion date is between 22 and 27 years away. The authority’s vision is to see the road in the Mountain State complete by 2020.

For more information on the Corridor H project, visit www.corridorh2020.com.

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