CHARLESTON — Gov. Jim Justice announced Friday that a contract has been awarded for another 4-mile section of Corridor H to be completed, which will bring the highway closer to Parsons.
The contract, through the governor’s Roads to Prosperity program, has been awarded to Kokosing Construction Company, which submitted the low bid of $175.6 million.
The project marks the second out of five phases of work that will be done to enhance Corridor H from Kerens to Parsons in eastern West Virginia. The scope of work for this project includes designing, grading, and draining approximately 4.13 miles, which will eventually become new, partially controlled access roadway from the US Route 219 Connector to the WV Route 72 Interchange in Tucker County.
“We would like to thank Gov. Jim Justice, Secretary of Transportation Byrd White, and Commissioner of Highways Jimmy Wriston for continuing to make the completion of Corridor H a top priority,” Robbie Morris, chairman of the Corridor H Authority, said Friday.
“Gov. Justice promised that a section of Corridor H would be included in the Roads to Prosperity programmed today he has delivered on that promise. We congratulate Kokosing on being awarded the contract and look forward to working with everyone to see the project through to completion,” said Morris.
This project also includes the construction of three large sets of bridges crossing Goodwin Road, Smokey Hollow and WV Route 72.
Additionally, the scope of work includes the building of a pedestrian bridge to accommodate Shingle Tree Trail within Monongahela State Forest.
Kokosing Construction Company also completed the first phase of the Corridor H enhancement work, which graded and drained another 7.5 miles between Kerens and Parsons with a connector to US Route 219.
Once the second phase of work is complete the remaining phases of the Corridor H enhancement project will include paving from Kerens to the WV Route 72 Interchange, completion of the WV Route 72 Interchange to Parsons, and completion of the Cheat River Bridge.
“The 4.13 miles of new highway this contract will add to Corridor H will put the total miles either completed or under construction at approximately 90%. We are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but we still have a lot of work left to do. We will continue to work diligently with Gov. Justice and his administration, along with our congressional delegation, to complete Corridor H as soon as possible. We have tremendous momentum right now and we need to keep that going. I am confident we will,” Morris stated.
The Robert C. Byrd Corridor H Highway Authority was established in 1997 by an act of the legislature to promote the construction and use of Corridor H.
U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure and a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today announced a $100 million grant for the West Virginia Division of Highways. The grant was awarded through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Nationally Significant Federal Lands and Tribal Projects program, and funding will support the construction of Corridor H-specifically, an interchange at the junction of Corridor H and WV 72, along with 4.6 miles of roadway and a bridge spanning Cheat River.
“From my first day in the Senate, I have advocated for Corridor H and similar projects that will strengthen our transportation infrastructure, and I was thrilled to work with the administration and Secretary Chao to deliver this much-needed investment,” Capito said. “Projects like Corridor H are not only beneficial for travelers and those living in nearby communities, but they have the potential to substantially improve our state’s commerce and economic potential by connecting West Virginia to other transportation hubs across the nation. As West Virginia continues to reorient and diversify our economy and create new opportunity, the backbone of these efforts is a continued investment in infrastructure projects, and I will continue working to help deliver the resources to build on these efforts and complete critical projects.”