For more than 40 years, West Virginians have fought for funding a modern highway that would connect Elkins and other northern communities with the East Coast. Now they must fight again to save the Corridor H project from the budget ax.
As incredible as it seems, an administration that is otherwise hell-bent on spending as much as it can as fast as it can in an effort to stimulate the economy has decided to cut $10 million from the appropriation for Corridor H in next year's budget.
This was money set aside above and beyond normal allocations. It will delay a project that should have been completed years ago. The cutback is at odds with President Obama's call in February to have shovel-ready projects in place for his $787 billion stimulus.
"At a time when we need to be making real investments in our highways, the president's attempt to cut funding for Corridor H is incredibly disappointing," Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito said. "We've spent hundreds of billions of dollars on bailouts, spent billions more on a misdirected stimulus package - and Corridor H is what they want to cut?"
She is right. This cut makes little sense.
"It could certainly delay the project," said state Department of Transportation spokesman Brent Walker.
Congress makes the final decision on the budget.
Gov. Joe Manchin was not happy with the news. "Corridor H goes back more than 40 years under the Appalachian Regional Development Act of 1965, which Congress passed to stimulate economic growth in rural Appalachia."
The argument for Corridor H is simple. The highway will trigger economic growth in the second-poorest state in the union.
That is no small achievement.
This truly is an investment, one that West Virginians have waited more than 44 years for.
Gov. Manchin and the congressional delegation need to make the case for getting this project completed as quickly as possible.
