More than 150 acres timbered at King Coal site
bluefield — A massive timbering project at the site of the King Coal Highway project in Bluefield has concluded.
Approximately 150 acres of timber was cut to make way for the next phase of the new interstate project in Mercer County, according to Rusty Marks with the public relations office for the West Virginia Department of Transportation.
While much of that timbering wasn't visible to motorists traveling along the new four-lane corridor, the timbered trees are visible from the distance near the 'road closed' sign where the King Coal Highway currently connects with the existing Airport Road.
That's where the next section of the interstate corridor will begin. The new $58 million contract will take the King Coal Highway another 2.5 miles from Airport Road to Littlesburg Road, near Route 20 and the Bluewell community.
However, earth-moving work on that project can't begin until two permits are received by the DOH, according to Mark.
Those permits may not be received until late summer.
'The contractor, Kanawha Stone, is securing a 404 permit as well as an NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit),' Marks said in an email response to questions by the Daily Telegraph. 'If these permits are obtained prior to August, then construction work can resume. August is simply the date in which these permits are assumed to be in place so that work can begin.'
A 404 permit falls under the Clean Waters Act and regulates the discharge of dredged or fill material into waters of the United States, including wetlands.
A groundbreaking ceremony on the Littlesburg Road section of the King Coal Highway was held last November, but no actual work on the highway project was completed at that time due to the pending arrival of winter.
A third Mercer County contract is still in the planning stages. Once it is approved, that project will extend the King Coal Highway another five miles from the Littlesburg Road area toward the Montcalm community.
The Littlesburg Road to Montcalm section of the King Coal Highway is still under environmental review. A contract award date for that stretch of the roadway has not yet been announced.
The King Coal Highway is West Virginia's local corridor of the future Interstate 73/74/75 routing.
In West Virginia, the King Coal Highway will ultimately extend 95 miles through Mercer, McDowell, Mingo, Wyoming and Wayne counties along or near currently existing U.S. 52 from U.S. 119 near Williamson to Interstate 77 in Bluefield.
In the bigger picture, the final Interstate 73/74/75 routing will extend from Detroit, Michigan to Myrtle Beach, S.C, opening up a large swath of Southern West Virginia to interstate access.
According to the National I-73/74/75 Corridor Association, the project will bring growth along the interstate within six states: Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. Sections of the interstate corridor are already open in other states, including North Carolina and South Carolina.
Contact Charles Owens at
cowens@bdtonline.com
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