By Charles Owens, Bluefield Daily Telegraph
BLUEFIELD, W.Va. — A $13.4 million federal funding award has been approved for a major transportation project in Bluefield that will involve the replacement of an aging tunnel and the construction of a new overpass bridge and pedestrian and bicycle walkway.
U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., announced the $13,480,000 award Thursday. Capito and Manchin said the funding is through the Rural Surface Transportation Grant Program, which is included in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
Capito, ranking member of the Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, said the project will construct an overpass bridge and make road improvements on the approach to an intermodal facility. Specifically she said the project will replace an existing one lane, signal-controlled railroad underpass (Old Bramwel Road/County Route 11/”Midway Tunnel”) with an overpass that includes separated pedestrian and bicycle accommodations.
As for the planned intermodal facility component, it is a project that is still in the planning stages and has not yet been funded.
