By Charles Boothe

August 9, 2021 - Preparations for construction of the Coalfields Expressway from Wyoming County to Welch are well under way.

Joe Pack, state Department of Highways District 10 engineer/manager, said rights-of-way are being secured in the Welch area to make way for the highway.

“It will be the first usable four-lane in McDowell County’s history,” he said of the six-mile stretch from Welch to the Wyoming County line.

Pack said DOH is “shooting for the spring” of 2022 to begin moving dirt for the project.

“That bond sale that made this possible means the project is being fast-tracked,” he said of the Parkways Authority bond sale that recently raised $423 million, $200 million of which was earmarked for the Coalfields Expressway extension to Welch. “We are finalizing the last right-of-way purchases that are necessary for the project.”

Pack said a two-lane connector will be constructed just west of Welch Community Hospital on Rt. 7 and it will go up on a ridge and ride that ridge to another connector that comes out on Rt. 16 in Wyoming County.

That is several miles and a substantial project, he said. “There are no bridges. It’s nothing but moving dirt around.”

Pack said the DOH is also already working on the design of the King Coal Highway intersection with the Coalfields Expressway at the McDowell County/Wyoming County line.

In October 2020 Wyoming County saw its first four-lane highway when a nine-mile stretch of the Coalfields Expressway was opened connecting Slab Fork in Raleigh County to Mullens in Wyoming County.

The Coalfields Expressway will eventually connect I-77 and I-64 from Beckley to Southwest Virginia, exiting West Virginia west of Bradshaw and connecting with Rt. 23 in Virginia, which links to interstates in Kentucky and Tennessee.

King Coal Highway is part of the proposed I-73-74 corridor that will eventually run from Detroit to Myrtle Beach.

King Coal crosses Southern West Virginia from its intersection in Bluefield with I-77/Rt. 460 to Williamson in Mingo County.

Both highways are partially constructed and should benefit from funding if the federal infrastructure bill passes, with $3.5 billion coming to West Virginia for road projects.

McDowell County Commissioner Cecil Patterson said after the $200 million allocation that the Coalfields Expressway will be a godsend for the county.

“That road, when complete to Welch, will be a very big deal,” he said, adding there are many reasons why it is so crucial since access to the county has always been limited to smaller curvy roads.

Not only will it help residents travel to Beckley and Charleston and I-77 and _ I-64 much faster and safely, it will open the county up for tourism and economic development.

“The Hatfield-McCoy ATV trails will see more people because of easier access into the county,” he said.

Patterson said the bottom line is the highway is essential to open up the county for economic development.

“We have to have some businesses here,” he said of the struggling economy in a county that has no easy highway access. “it will help with economic development and what is what we have to have.”

The Coalfields Expressway is slated to go through the county, exiting into Virginia in the Bradshaw area, eventually providing easier access to Rt. 460, Rt. 23 and I-81.