Southwest Virginia Officials Ask for State Support on the Coalfields Expressway
May 16, 2022 - Southwest Virginia leaders are exploring a number of options for jumpstarting the Coalfields Expressway project.
The future four-lane corridor was discussed by area officials last week during a meeting of the Virginia Department of Transportation in Abingdon to consider the region’s share of the Commonwealth’s overall $51 billion six-year road plan.
Among the speakers at last week’s meeting was Coalfields Expressway Authority (CFX) Chairman Jay Rife, Virginia CFX Authority Executive Director Jonathan Belcher and others, the authority said in a press release issued after the meeting.
Virginia Coalfields Expressway Authority Board Chairman Jay Rife speaks during a Virginia Department of Transportation hearing in Abingdon, Va.
Secretary of Transportation Sheppard Miller, VDOT Road Commissioner Stephen C. Brisch, Bristol District Engineer Tabitha Crowder, Commonwealth Transportation Bristol District board member Tom Fowlkes and Acting Director of Rail and Public Transportation Jennifer DeBruhl were present for the two-hour meeting held at the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center.
A number of speakers talked about the benefits of the Coalfields Expressway project and urged VDOT to find a way to build the roadway, according to the press release. Some suggested one approach would be for it to be made part of the Corridor Q project (which overlays part of the Coalfields Expressway) and is already under construction in Buchanan County. Others asked for it to become a part of the Appalachian Regional Commission’s Appalachian Development Highway System.
“We have a problem … with transportation,” Rife told the transportation board. He noted that while some road improvements related to Route 460 are underway, “we still need the Coalfields Expressway to get us to other points. Not only will it help Buchanan, Dickenson and Wise counties, but it will open up Scott and Lee and it will alleviate some of the I-81 traffic.”
Rife said he and others realize the expressway project carries with it an expensive price tag to construct, which he suggested underscored the need to couple the project with coal synergies along the route. The process of allowing coal companies to create a rough road-bed while extracting coal has been referred to as coal synergy agreements in the past.
Rife said the Virginia CFX Authority was already in discussions with some of the key coal players along the route to look at ways the industry could work with transportation officials to further advance the project while at the same time bringing down its overall cost to the Commonwealth.
Belcher added that work on the roadway to connect with the Virginia section of the project is already underway in West Virginia with projections that it will be completed within 10 years.
“When they complete that, it needs to connect to Virginia,” Belcher said.
The Coalfields Expressway, designated as U.S. Route 121 and a Congressional High Priority Corridor, will extend approximately 57 miles in Virginia traveling from U.S. Route 23 near Pound, through Dickenson and Buchanan counties to its connection with the West Virginia segments of the expressway.
In West Virginia, the Coalfields Expressway will extend through Raleigh, Wyoming and McDowell counties. Sections of the expressway have already been constructed in Raleigh and Wyoming counties, and work will begin soon in McDowell.