Submitted photo Robbie Morris, executive director of the Randolph County Development Authority, met with the Rotary Club of Elkins, giving the group an update on the status of the Corridor H project.

ELKINS — Robbie Morris, executive director of the Randolph County Development Authority and chairman of the Corridor H Highway Authority met with the Rotary Club of Elkins, giving the group an update on the status of the Corridor H project.

Corridor H has its genesis in the passage of the Appalachian Regional Development Act in 1965. The purpose of the Act is to connect remote areas of Appalachia to the national interstate highway system. While it was originally intended to follow US Route 33 from Weston to Strasburg, VA, the planned route has shifted over time for various reasons including improved access to the region’s tourist destinations, rugged terrain and environmental concerns.

The Kerens to Parsons section of the road is under various current contracts with the entirety of the stretch being under construction. This area of the highway is divided into four distinct sections – 7 ½ miles from the bridge at Kerens, 3.4 miles leading to the bridge over US Route 219, the bridge over US Route 219 and 4.6 miles from the bridge to the Mackeyville Road (on Backbone Mountain). It is projected that the portion of the project that will allow drivers to travel from Weston to Parsons will be completed by end of 2026.

A section of the road from the Holly Meadows interchange that allows for truck traffic to the Kingsford plant on the south side of Parsons is anticipated to open between the end of 2025 and March/April 2026. Also under construction is an approximately 3,000+ feet bridge over the Cheat River. This section of the road that includes the bridge and the Mackeyville Road section will not be open until the summer of 2028. “This are going well. Everything is funded or planned to be funded,” said Morris.

The bridge that crosses over US Route 219 is one of the most time-consuming parts of the project. There were concerns about the foundation under the bridge pier due to an ancient “slip” in that area of the construction. “There were thoughts and concerns that it was moving and shifting so they did a lot of site work to shore-up the pier. They rerouted aquifers, they drove pylons down into it, they’ve done absolutely everything,” commented Morris. “You will have completed highway on both sides of that bridge waiting for the bridge to be completed sometime between September and December of next year.”

The Wardensville to the West Virginia/Virginia state line portion of the project (approximately 8 miles) will begin the bid process by the end of this year or early 2026. “The design will turn right [before Wardensville] and go south of Wardensville. It will continue south and come back up a little closer towards town, then head back out around a chicken farm and meet up with Virginia.” This project is projected to be completed by 2030 if the contracts are awarded this year.

The Parsons to Davis route has yet to be determined; there is the revised original preferred alternative (ROPA) and the Go North routes. ROPA goes south of Thomas, north of Davis and connects to the completed section of Corridor H north of Davis. This route contains a truck route around Thomas to divert major truck traffic that is headed towards Oakland, Maryland. “Right now, there are hundreds of trucks a day, thousands of trucks a week that are going through Thomas because that’s the only way they have to go when traveling Corridor H,” said Morris. “As Kerens to Parsons comes online and GPS systems update, traffic in Thomas is going to be a lot worse.”

The Go North route continues north of Tucker County High School, goes around Thomas and connects to a truck route that then connects to the existing Corridor H north of Davis. “The Go North route is longer, it’s more expensive, it threatens the watershed for the town of Thomas, it goes through city parks and a cemetery and goes through more wetland area so there are some massive environmental impacts,” commented Morris. “If we go with the Go North route, all of the environmental work that has been done on ROPA would have to be done to the same level on Go North if they were going to go with that route.”

The West Virginia Department of Highways has undertaken many actions to mitigate the concerns of local citizens about the ROPA route. During the numerous stakeholder meetings over many years, some particular themes developed: the connection between Thomas and Davis; the interchange at Thomas and Davis; the interchange at Tucker County High School; the bridge over Coketon; and sight/sound/visual pollution.

The solution to the connection between Thomas and Davis is to replace the originally proposed bridge over Route 32 with a tunnel beneath Route 32 that will include a wider bridge area with trees and landscaping to improve the viewshed. The interchange at Thomas and Davis has been moved several hundred yards east of Route 32 to the current terminus of Corridor H outside of Thomas and Davis.

The interchange at Tucker County High School has been redesigned to minimize traffic safety concerns, incorporating a solution that includes no left turns and no crossing multiple lanes of traffic coming or going to Tucker County High School. The bridge over Coketon has been redesigned to be a single-arch bridge as opposed to a multi-pier bridge. This redesign will greatly reduce the possibility of breaching any acid mine pools that exist underground in that area. “What they’ve done is a New River Gorge 2.0 single-span bridge that allows for two connection points that, with the way they’re drilled into the ground, avoids any acid mine drainage pools should there be any underneath that area,” said Morris.

For numerous reasons, including being the quickest route to construct, ROPA is the preferred route. Additionally, there are environmental habitats, historical and cultural habitats and watersheds for the Town of Thomas that indicate that ROPA is the best route. It is anticipated that the final route from Parsons to Davis will be selected in 2026, putting the project under construction in 2027. The projected completion for Parsons to Davis is 3032-3034. The estimated cost to complete all remaining sections of Corridor H is $1.2 billion.

More information about the Corridor H system can be found at the Corridor H website, www.corridorh.com.

Rotary is a global network of 1.4 million neighbors, friends, leaders and problem-solvers who see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change – across the globe, in their communities, and in themselves. Visit www.Rotary.org to learn more about Rotary International, visit the club’s Facebook page — Rotary Club of Elkins — or contact 2025-2026 club president Phillips Kolsun at phillipskolsun@gmail.com for more information about the Rotary Club of Elkins.