Road work progresses in W.Va.
As construction work forges ahead for the long-awaited Uniontown-to-Brownsville segment of the Mon/Fayette Expressway, progress is also continuing south of the border for the West Virginia section of the road. The West Virginia highway work comes as a result of a directive from West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin III who selected the project as a top priority for the state shortly after taking office in 2005. Last year, West Virginia highway officials announced a commitment to complete the link by 2011.
Donald L. Williams, assistant district engineer, construction, division of highways for West Virginia Department of Transportation, said Manchin has dubbed the Mon/Fayette Expressway one of three high-priority road projects for the mountain state and the goal is to reach the project’s conclusion in five years.
Williams said Wednesday the WVDOT put a wetlands mitigation project out for bid earlier this week and plans to put a “Mon/Fayette Expressway local road project” out to bid next month. He said the massive Morgan’s Run Bridge project may be let out to bid within the next six to eight months. The bridge project alone is estimated to cost between $16 million and $18 million, Williams said.
“We are progressing ahead. There is probably $30 million of work being let in the next year,” Williams said.
To date, more than two miles of highway and one bridge have been completed for the West Virginia link, which begins at the Pennsylvania line and will connect with Interstate 68. Williams said the completed Ruble’s Run Bridge, a 1,550-foot span, was one of the biggest bridge projects ever undertaken in the state. He said the Morgan’s Run Bridge project is similar in size to the Ruble’s Run Bridge project.
Williams said a lot of the work that remains centers around the interchange with Interstate 68. He said although the remaining two miles that must be completed are not that far in terms of distance, the project is massive and very costly. “We are moving ahead and we’re excited about it,” he said.
“The goal is to open by 2011,” Williams said.
Although the record of decision for the section was issued more than a decade ago, the project was not completed because of a funding shortfall and lack of interest by West Virginia elected officials. That changed last year after Manchin took office.
In April 2005, Fayette County Commissioners Vincent A. Vicites and Joseph A. Hardy III paid a visit to Charleston, W.Va., for a meeting with Manchin to stress the importance of completion of the link.
Vicites, a staunch supporter of the expressway project, has repeatedly said the project is important for the entire region, and not just Pennsylvania. Accessing West Virginia from Uniontown will be much easier once the highway is finished. Right now, the West Virginia link, which begins at the Pennsylvania border, is essentially a road to nowhere.
Unlike the majority of the highway in Pennsylvania, the West Virginia portion of the interstate will not be a toll road.
Williams said the WVDOT is moving ahead with construction projects that should lead to completion of the link within five years.
West Virginia Commissioner of Highways Paul Mattox Jr. previously said Manchin decided to use core federal funding to complete the link, instead of relying on earmarks in the federal highway-funding bill approved last year.