BLUEFIELD — When state lawmakers eliminated funding in 2017 for the King Coal Highway Authority and its executive director, some in the region worried that there would be no one to actively promote and facilitate the construction of the long-delayed Interstate 73 corridor in southern West Virginia.

Today, as construction on a $58 million contract connecting the King Coal Highway with Airport Road inches closer toward completion, no additional state or federal funding is in place to ensure a continuation of construction on the interstate corridor near Bluefield. Nor is there an authority office, authority board or director in place to fight for funding for the future four-lane corridor.

That's a concern for local officials, who would like to see state lawmakers take a more active role in promoting the King Coal Highway. 

"We don't need bridges to nowhere," said Mercer County Commissioner Greg Puckett, who served on the now defunct King Coal Highway Authority board. "That is unfortunately what we have right now. That bridge (at Airport Road) has now gone into a cut in the mountain. We now have multiple bridges in line to get us to this point. But we are still not getting to the somewhere we want to see."

Late last month, U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., announced a federal congressionally directed spending allocation of $5 million for the King Coal Highway project. But that funding is earmarked for a section of the road in Gilbert in Mingo County, not Mercer County. And at only $5 million, that's not enough money to build a lot of road in Gilbert.

With states like South Carolina moving full steam ahead on the I-73/74/75 project, Puckett fears the lack of progress in West Virginia will bottleneck the interstate corridor. Once finished, the interstate is supposed to run from Detroit to Myrtle Beach, opening a large swath of southern West Virginia to interstate access. The King Coal Highway is the local West Virginia corridor of I-73.

But work on the project is moving extremely slowly in West Virginia — mainly due to a lack of state and federal funding that will be needed to complete the new interstate corridor.

Puckett says states like South Carolina have active authority boards and directors who are overseeing the interstate construction. West Virginia doesn't, after funding for its board, office and executive director were all eliminated in 2017 by the state Legislature.

"So essentially, what is happening, if you look at the overall progress over the last 10 years from Michigan to South Carolina, other states are moving," Puckett said. "Other states have authorities. They have advocacy to the federal representatives. We take what we can get. We have exceptional connections with our federal authorities. With Congresswoman Miller, Senator Manchin and Senator Capito, they are 100 percent on board. But we will need more over a long period of time."

If additional funding for the Mercer County project isn't found soon, Puckett fears the I-73 corridor could come to an abrupt halt at Airport Road.

"Without that energy to move forward and connect with the other states, we are going to continue to be left behind in our most dire areas," Puckett said.

If additional funding is found, the next section of the King Coal Highway in Mercer County would take the four-lane corridor from the existing construction site at Airport Road across the mountain toward Littlesburg Road. From there, assuming that the road would still be built in smaller sections and different contracts, it would then extend from the Montcalm area before ultimately exiting Mercer County and extending along Indian Ridge into McDowell County. From there it would interchange with the Coalfields Expressway in Wyoming County. 

Although the West Virginia Legislature ended the fiscal year with a record surplus, no funding was considered for the creation of a new King Coal Highway authority board, office or director. 

"We need more support from the state," Puckett said. "When the road goes through, the economics will be very, very beneficial. At some point, someone has to be responsible. There has to be a direction. Part of advocacy in any outlet is having a champion. It's hard to do that if you don't have the funding. You've got to have something there and have some substance."

While funding a new authority board and director may not be the answer, it is something to at least consider, Puckett said.

"Maybe it was one of those things where it needed to be worked on but certainly not dissolved," Puckett said of the former King Coal Highway Authority. "Because when you lose someone who is a champion, and has all of the knowledge and statistics in place, you don't get rid of it. You figure out how to tweak it."

In 2017, the Legislature eliminated funding for both the King Coal Highway Authority and the Coalfields Expressway Authority. Lawmakers at the time called it a cost-cutting measure.

The King Coal Highway Authority office was later closed. Mike Mitchem was the authority's last executive director. 

The Coalfields Expressway Authority held on for another two years — not closing until early 2019.

Richard Browning, the long-time organizer and director of the Coalfields Expressway Authority, resigned from that position in 2019 due to the continued lack of state funding.

Browning told the Daily Telegraph in 2019 that he tried to keep the Coalfields Expressway Authority office in Wyoming County open, adding that he stretched money “... as far as I could.” But the authority office eventually ran out of money, so he had to close the office and retire from the position.

The Coalfields Expressway opened in Mullens on Oct. 1, 2020, according to The Register-Herald in Beckley. That was 31 years after the project was first launched with a legislative resolution. It was Wyoming County’s first four-lane road.

Gov. Jim Justice broke ground last year on a 5.12-mile section of the Coalfields Expressway in McDowell County, near Welch. That construction project is ongoing with a 2026 completion date planned. It will be McDowell County’s first four-lane highway.

Some in the area often confuse the King Coal Highway with the Coalfields Expressway.

The Coalfields Expressway will extend through McDowell, Wyoming and Raleigh counties in West Virginia, before linking with Virginia into Buchanan, Dickenson and Wise counties. It is a two-state project.

The King Coal Highway will span 95 miles across Mercer, McDowell, Wyoming, Mingo and Wayne counties.