Gov. Justice approves award of Cheat River Bridge project on Corridor H

BRIDGEPORT, W.Va. (WDTV) – Gov. Jim Justice announced that construction on yet another section of Corridor H will soon be underway.

The Governor was joined by U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito, U.S. Congressman David McKinley, leaders with the West Virginia Department of Transportation, and other officials today for a ceremony to announce that he has approved the bid award for the Corridor H Cheat River Bridge Project.

“This is an announcement that is so good, it’s unbelievable,” Gov. Justice said. “I could not be more proud of all the work that we’ve done to get to this point and all that we’re going to continue to do to complete the Cheat River Bridge and Corridor H as a whole.”

The successful bid of $147,839,550 was made by Triton Construction of St. Albans.

At 3,300 feet, the Cheat River Bridge will be among the longest bridges in West Virginia when completed.

The four-lane bridge will link the 15-mile stretch of Corridor H between Kerens and Parsons with the section between Parsons and Davis.

When Corridor H is fully completed, it will connect Interstate 79 in Weston, WV, to Interstate 81 in Strasburg, VA.

“I want to see the completion of this project, and with Governor Justice as our Governor, I know that it’s going to happen,” Senator Capito said. “Corridor H has always been the key to this part of West Virginia and it remains the key. But these are expensive projects, it’s a lot of money to go through this last part. It’s a lot of matching money from the Governor, from the State, so we want to make sure we get it done.”

Currently, 123 miles of Corridor H are open to traffic in West Virginia, with 31 miles left to open, including 10.9 miles that are under active construction. To date, an estimated $1.93 billion has been spent on Corridor H, with an estimated $1.10 billion-worth of work remaining.

Congressman McKinley, himself an engineer, said that major infrastructure projects like Corridor H are exactly what is needed in West Virginia.

“I knew about the issues with our roads before the American Society of Civil Engineers published their report card about our conditions in West Virginia where they rank us last – D’s and F’s,” Congressman McKinley said. “This about it: if your son or daughter came back home from school and they had a report card with D’s and F’s on it, what would you do? You’d do something about it. And Jim Justice has done something about it. He’s made a commitment to roads in our state.”

“We’re making real progress with Corridor H, but we’re going to keep pumping all the money we can pump into moving this project faster and faster,” Gov. Justice said. “If there’s a way – somehow, someway – that we can finish Corridor H before I leave office, that’s what I want to do.”