By Ben Herrick
The groundbreaking ceremony took place on Monday, July 15 for the highway work on the portion of Corridor H that connects Davis to Scherr.
The groundbreaking ceremony was preceded by a presentation given by Marvin Murphy, Assistant Deputy Secretary, West Virginia Department of Transportation. In the presentation, Mr. Murphy reviewed the history of the Appalachian Development Highway System, described the Corridor H budget, and provided some projections for the completion of final segments of Corridor H.
The following drawing below describes the current status of Corridor H.
Corridor H will eventually cover 130 miles between Interstate 79 at Weston in Lewis County and Interstate 81 in Front Royal, Va. The corridor is scheduled for completion in 2034, with the stretch from Bismark to Davis projected for completion at the end of 2014.
When Corridor H arrives in Davis, the design for the intersection into Route 32 will be as shown below:
In the drawing, the blue lines indicate the extent of the intended construction for the current portion of highway. The current plan shows the road transitioning from four lanes to two lanes and merging into the existing route 93. The red lines on the drawing pertain to the Parsons to Davis portion of highway that is scheduled for future construction.
Once work has been completed on the road from Davis to Bismark, the next portion of highway that will be scheduled for construction will run from Kernes to Parsons. Work on the highway from Kernes to Parsons will be divided into three sections and is anticipated to take nine years to complete depending on the availability of funds.
The final Tucker County portion of highway scheduled for completion is the road that runs from Parsons to Davis. The final routing of this section of highway is dependent on the approval of the Supplementary Final Environmental Impact Statement. The impact statement describes the proposed highway routing bounds the highway design. Work on the Parsons to Davis portion of highway is scheduled to take place once the Kernes to Parsons portion is completed.
The final portion of Corridor H construction will take place from Wardensville to the Virginia State line. This portion of highway is subject to a settlement agreement with the Commonwealth of Virginia. As previously stated, this final portion of highway is currently scheduled for completion in 2034.
