Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and Federal Highway Administrator Shailen Bhatt visited Parsons Tuesday after taking a tour of the Kerens to Parsons section of Corridor H, both speaking optimistically about the project.

Capito brought Bhatt to Tucker County to show the ongoing construction on Corridor H, to see first-hand the connectivity the finished road will provide and to see the reason for the higher construction costs.

Bhatt was driven through the Kerens to Parsons portion of construction by Capito and state Department of Transportation Secretary Jimmy Wriston to see the newly completed elements of the highway, bridge construction efforts and excavation underway for future projects aimed at completing Corridor H.

“We’re really happy to have the administrator here,” Capito told reporters outside Piccolo Paula’s Caffé on Walnut Street in Parsons Tuesday afternoon. “The construction that we see now, the bridges that are being built, is very exciting. I wanted him to see it first-hand. To see how difficult it is to build in West Virginia, but also how important it is to this region for our state.”

Capito said she, Bhatt and Wriston spoke about issues such as safety, electric vehicles, contracting authority, fish and wildlife issues and more during the tour. She also said they were able to see the care that WVDOT is taking on the environmental impact during their tour.

“I want to compliment West Virginia DOT for all their efforts here, and I wanna compliment the senator,” Bhatt said. “I know how important transportation projects are to rural America, to the economy, for safety. So I’m really excited to see what has been built, what is being built and how we can get the future corridors built as well.”

After lunch at Piccolo Paula’s Caffé, Capito, Bhatt and Wriston were going to drive to Thomas to see and discuss the future portions of Corridor H. Bhatt said he planned to drive through the completed Davis to Wardensville portion of Corridor H on his way back to Washington D.C. so he was able to see the whole route.

Capito said she believed that the Kerens to Parsons portion of Corridor H is expected to be finished in the spring or fall of 2025, with the next portion yet to be determined.

“I jokingly said to somebody that I’m going to see Corridor H be completed in my lifetime and I’m planning to live to 100, but I’m hoping it doesn’t take that long, and I don’t think it will,” Capito said.

When asked what benefits she saw for West Virginia in a completed Corridor H, Capito said the benefits are the same for everywhere across the country.

“It’s access. It’s commerce. It’s safety,” Capito said. “It’s the ability to bring people in for tourism, for economic development. To move goods back and forth across the country more safely, and maybe, in a lot of cases once this comes through, more quickly.”