By Greg Jordan, Bluefield Daily Telegraph
BECKLEY, W.Va. — Work on new travel plazas in both Mercer and Raleigh counties was proceeding Thursday as Gov. Jim Justice signed legislation aiming $150 million at paving West Virginia’s secondary roadways.
Gov. Jim Justice met at Tamarack in Raleigh County along with Secretary of Transportation Jimmy Wriston, P.E., Executive Director of the West Virginia Parkways Authority Jeff Miller and other officials.
During a brief ceremony, Justice signed SB 1002, which allocates $150 million in supplemental funding for statewide highway projects. Justice was also updated about the ongoing renovations at travel plazas including one near Camp Creek in Mercer County and a second one close to Tamarack in Raleigh County along the West Virginia Turnpike.
Work on the travel plazas started last year. Paramount Builders LLC, of St. Albans, was awarded an over $122 million contract for demolishing the old plazas and constructing their replacements.
Before the governor signed SB 1002, Miller updated him and the public about the plaza project’s status. The site of the new Beckley Travel Plaza could be seen from Tamarack.
Travel plaza improvements include expanded and separate parking areas for cars and trucks, designated parking for buses, RV dump stations, picnic areas, expanded restroom facilities, new restaurant choices, a drive-through at Beckley, 24-hour convenience stores, and expanded tourist information centers.
“If your recall Nov. 2022, the governor, Secretary Wriston and myself met in the Tamarack Conference Center to make an announcement that we were going to redesign and redevelop all of the West Virginia travel plazas on the West Virginia Turnpike,” Miller said.
Miller pointed out the construction site in the background.
“Obviously you’ve been driving by these for two years wondering where we are,” he said. “I’m happy to announce that I think progress on these are going very well. You can see behind me obviously a dramatic and beautiful canopy that reaches out over the building there that’s going overtop of the fueling stations.:
The new plazas will serve millions of travelers every year.
