History

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The Appalachian Development Highway System in West Virginia

Corridor H came about as part of the 1965 Appalachian Regional Development Act after being proposed the previous year.

The Appalachian Development Highway System (ADHS) was designed as a thirteen-state regional system that called for twenty-three corridors, each offering a means for traffic to connect to major highway terminals. The idea was to connect remote areas of Appalachia to the national Interstate Highway System. Corridor H is the final one of six ADHS routes to be built in or through West Virginia.

• Corridor D (82.3 Miles – 100% complete): U.S. 50, Cincinnati, OH via Parkersburg to I-79 at Bridgeport, WV
• Corridor E (32.2 Miles – 100% complete): Interstate 68, Morgantown from I-79 to I-70 at Hancock, MD
• Corridor G (79.6 Miles – 100% complete): U.S. 119, Charleston, WV to Pikeville, KY
• Corridor L (69.9 Miles – 100% complete): U.S. 19, from Beckley to Sutton, WV
• Corridor Q (27.2 Miles): Christiansburg, Va. to Pikeville, Ky., incorporating U.S. highways 52, 19 and 460 in West Virginia

Corridor H in West Virginia – Since 1964

Construction of Corridor H would start slowly, and it would remain the most neglected link in the development chain.  By 1974, widening projects were beginning on U.S. 33 immediately east of I-79 near Weston.

The only sign of significant construction at that time was a six-mile stretch of highway being built on a new alignment east of Elkins. Construction also began in the mid-1970’s on the section from Canfield to Shavers Fork.

The original proposed routing of Corridor H followed U.S. 33 from I-79 east to Elkins then onward via U.S. 33 to Seneca Rocks. From that point east, there were two proposals. One was a new terrain route over the Shenandoah Mountains to New Market, Virginia. The other called for Corridor H to go north from Seneca Rocks to Moorefield and then east roughly following Route 55 to Strasburg.

In 1981, West Virginia initiated studies and hearings on an Environmental Impact Statement for the highway east of Shavers Fork, an effort that stalled as funding issues would cause the state to shelve the project until 1990.

Activity would pick up in the 1990’s after U.S. Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) was named chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. At the state level, the West Virginia Department of Transportation began a study that included a Corridor Selection Draft Environmental Impact Statement (CSDEIS).  After the WVDOT released an Alignment Selection Draft Environmental Impact Statement (ASDEIS) as part of the study, a new route was proposed, which had the highway running northeast from Elkins to Parsons and east from Parsons to Davis. A northern route was added that directed the highway from Bismark and Scherr to Moorefield, then east to Virginia in the shadows of current WV 55.

The state of West Virginia released its Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) in April 1996 and the Federal Highway Administration announced a Record of Decision (ROD) approving the 100-mile route four months later.

The next milestone came when a U.S. District Court of Appeals decided on February 9, 1999, that the two agencies through the EIS process did consider all alternatives, including improving existing routes.

A compromise came in December 1999 as a result of the U.S. District Court Mediation program.  The compromise broke the original ROD on the 100-mile route into nine segments.  RODs would be issued for each segment.

Since 2000, the nine remaining segments would be re-evaluated on an individual basis. Construction began on some segments that year.  One section that was opened (in August 2002) was the North Elkins Bypass. Another opening took place in 2003 as 14 miles of highway from Baker to Moorefield were open to traffic. Construction was also completed on a segment east of Baker and WV 259 to Wardensville.  This section opened on October 20, 2006. 

A three-mile section of the 15-mile Moorefield to Forman segment opened to traffic in November 2005. This extended the highway west to end at US 220 just north of Moorefield.  The remaining 12 miles of this section opened to traffic on October 27, 2010. The remainder of the 14.5-mile Forman-to-Bismarck (west-to-east) section opened to traffic in late 2013.

In 2008, West Virginia legislated the public-private partnership concept and expanded it in 2013. The concept avoided cost increases due to inflation and sped up construction. A 7.5-mile stretch to connect Kerens to the 219 Connector was awarded for engineering and construction.

In 2012, Congress passed a surface transportation bill that forces each state within the Appalachian Development Highway System to make plans known within one year for the remaining roads to be built within the system. Corridor H was also made a national priority in the same piece of legislation and the funding formula for construction was changed from 80 percent federal and 20 percent state to 100 percent federal funds.

A sixteen-mile section stretching from Davis to Bismarck was opened in November 2014. This took the road from the WV 42 connector at Bismarck to the WV93 interchange east of Mount Storm Lake. Then, in May of 2015, a 4.4-mile section of Corridor H opened extending from the Tucker County line to Bismarck in Grant County. In November 2015, an additional three-mile-long section opened near Mount Storm.

A Public Private Partnership contract was awarded in November 2015 for a 7.53-mile section between the existing completed section of Corridor H at Kerens (Randolph County) to the US 219 Connector northeast of Montrose (Tucker County). In December 2018, the US Department of Transportation announced approval of $20 million in federal funds through the BUILD Program to be used for the paving of approximately 10 miles of Corridor H.  Next steps include construction to the Route 72 interchange north of Parsons.