On June 22, the Governor, with federal, state, and local officials, highway workers, contractors, consultants, and citizens including a sign-carrying Go North delegation, opened a section of Corridor H between Kerens and Rt. 72 north of Parsons. Eleven years of construction had extended the highway eleven miles.

From the west, 51 miles of the four-lane are now open from I-79 at Weston to Parsons. Construction is ongoing on 3.5 miles east of Rt. 72, crossing the Cheat River bridge to US 219 as it climbs Backbone Mountain. From the east, 66 miles are open from Wardensville to Davis. Parsons to Davis remains the missing piece. (A shorter outlier from Wardensville to the Virginia border is scheduled for completion before Parsons to Davis begins.)

Other reasons besides its difficulty can help explain why the 10-mile stretch from Parsons to Davis was saved for last. Most important was ease of access for visitors from the east to Tucker County’s four-season attractions, which offered a more likely payoff than any other “economic development.” Once the corridor reached Elkins, the focus jumped to the east. Now it has returned.

Nevertheless, it is true that the Tucker County connection has been regarded as the most problematic of the entire corridor. 

If the just-opened section was a rehearsal, we are worried. Numerous issues plagued and lengthened its years of construction. Most visible has been the bridge over 219 at Moore. The site had to be completely reconstructed after discovery that its piers had slipped. As far as we know, the state and the contractor are still litigating each party’s responsibility.

For insights into the problems that travelers don’t see, we asked Barbara Weaner, who with her husband Scott has lived on a farm on South Haddix Run for fifty years. Here’s Barbara’s report:

The watershed upstream of us is entirely in the Monongahela National Forest. South Haddix was a breeding native brook trout stream prior to the highway construction. Massive clearcuts and obliteration of many ephemeral streams caused dramatic changes in sedimentation, which not only killed the trout but increased flooding.

The worst flooding in the last 50 years occurred on South Haddix Run on May 26, 2024, shortly after the highway was paved. Water ran off the surface and shot out of culverts down steep hollows degraded by construction fill, discarded timber and rubble. Huge volumes barreled through our hollow, carrying large trees onto our pastures. Our farm fences were torn down. The stream broke out of its banks, across our fields, into our pond, which then broke out of its banks, flooding the roadway across the hollow. Not even the flood of 1985 did anything like this.

High water events have continued. The most recent was on May 27, when more than 3 feet of water covered 219 at the new exit ramp at Moore. 219 was closed for many hours. Poorly designed drainage ditches and inadequate culverts were overwhelmed by heavy rain.

That new intersection is confusing and dangerous in other ways. The ramp exits into a tight curve on an abrupt hump. It’s a blind spot coming from either direction on 219. We’re lucky the flood happened during daylight — if it had been dark, fatalities would have been likely. 

We have maintained good relationships with the highway department, the Department of Environmental Protection and the West Virginia Rivers Coalition, reporting problems with stream turbidity and flooding. During the last five years, there have been dozens of violations and fines.

But the Governor and other officials celebrated the grand opening of the Kerens to Parsons section while these problems remained uncorrected.

The next section of the road from partway up the mountain to Davis will encounter steeper terrain and less room for error. Will our state’s highway department, the Federal Highway Administration and the DEP learn from the mistakes made on earlier sections? Will a better route be instituted?  

Good questions.