By Brad Johnson, The Inter-Mountain
DAVIS/THOMAS, W.Va. — Owners of 32 Tucker County businesses have sent a letter asking the U.S. Department of Transportation to intervene in the selection of a route for the Corridor H highway project to take.
The business owners support a northern route for Corridor H from Parsons to Davis, after a petition asking for an alternate route was signed by more than 5,000 people.
The letter was sent to Pete Buttigieg, Secretary of the Department of Transportation, earlier this month.
“Mr. Buttigieg, please help us protect our community from the worst harms of highway construction,” the letter states. “As you recently pointed out in your Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods Program: ‘Sometimes roads in the past have done the opposite of what they want to do … Dividing or damaging neighborhoods.’ We are deeply troubled by the prospects of the harm that will accrue from the WV Division of Highway’s presently recommended southern alignment (ROPA) for the 10-mile stretch of Corridor H between Parsons and Davis. ROPA, as designed, will do precisely what you addressed: sever links between different parts of our community and disrupt our local economy.
