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Issues >
Transportation
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Version (West
Virginia) $1
billion Corridor H is a proposed 100-mile federal four-lane highway intended to "open up" West Virginia for economic development. The highway was originally slated to run between Elkins, West Virginia and I-81 at Strasburg, Virginia, but in 1995 Virginia's transportation board voted not to build the 14-mile easternmost segment. Thus, the highway would terminate near the state line. The total project cost is at least $1.6 billion, or about $16 million per mile, and would damage pristine wilderness areas and historic towns. Green
Scissors Proposal Current Status After
a partial victory in a federal appeals court, opponents of Corridor
H reached a court-mediated settlement on February 7, 2000 with
the West Virginia Department of Transportation and the Federal
Highway Administration that delayed construction on nearly 40%
of the route. New environmental impact studies are being done
for realignments to avoid a Civil War battlefield and Blackwater
Canyon. The seven-mile segment between Wardensville and the
Virginia state line cannot be built for twenty years. Opponents
retained the right to sue over endangered species issues and
other environmental laws. About $2.2 billion was authorized over
six years for the entire Appalachian Corridor system in the six-year
federal transportation funding bill passed in 1998, the Transportation
Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21). West Virginia's share
of this money was enough to build only one-third of Corridor
H. Future traffic projections do not justify the project. According to the 1994 Alignment Environmental Impact Statement, 20-year traffic projections fall considerably short of the 9,000 vehicles-per-day figure that engineers normally use to justify building a four-lane highway. Corridor H would not link any major cities; the largest towns on the route have populations of less than 10,000. There are better ways to boost the state's economy. The current and initial directors of the Appalachian Regional Commission have both stated on the record that Appalachia needs funding for education and job training, not more roads. It is extremely expensive. The costs of carving through 3,000- and 4,000-foot mountains are high. Safety and service improvements on existing roads would be much cheaper. Project Hurts the Environment Corridor H would encourage sprawling developments at the expense of forests, farms and traditional "Main Street" merchants. The road would damage some of the largest roadless areas in the Eastern United States. It would lessen the state's tourist appeal by marring West Virginia's natural, recreational and historic attractions. The eastern counties of West Virginia have no planning and no zoning in effect. Scenic
America named the adjacent corridor, which includes east-west
Routes 55, 93 and 219, as one of the "Ten Most Endangered
Scenic Byways". Corridor H would require
100 separate stream crossings and cut through the George Washington
and Monongahela National Forests.
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