We’ve heard all the lip service, the excuses and the reasons why southern West Virginia’s roads aren’t at the top of the state’s priority list when it comes to new construction.
After what happened last week, we don’t want to hear it anymore.
Publicized first on the West Virginia MetroNews Web site and titled, fittingly, “The Switch,” it was learned that funding from the Department of Transportation’s current fiscal year budget was being moved from three projects and designated to complete the new downtown access for Fairmont.
Now it was noted that the money would be returned to those three projects — one on Route 9 in the eastern panhandle, one in Wayne County and one in Harrison County — in next year’s budget. What this maneuver really reaffirmed to us is the long-held belief that when politicians want to make something happen they can, no matter how it gets painted.
Need more proof, analyze this comment from Brent Walker, spokesman for the DOT: “Fairmont’s Gateway Connector project is a worthy project. The fact it is the governor’s home county had no bearing on the decision.”
Really? How ignorant do you take us for, Mr. Walker?
Woody Duba, of Beaver Coal and Land Company and a member of the Beckley-Raleigh County Transportation Authority, offered this comment when asked about “The Switch.”
“This is just another example of road funding heading to the northern part of the state,” he said.
It certainly is and we would like to assess the key criteria the DOT says it uses when prioritizing its projects.
Nothing against Fairmont but that 1.5 miles of roadway, costing $70 million plus, really does very little for assisting economic development in that area. It’s a nice quick route into downtown Fairmont but that’s about it.
Now look at what the opportunities can be if we develop the Z-Way and Coalfields Expressway. The Z-Way will open up badly needed access to development along Eisenhower Drive, the Airport and Pinecrest Industrial Parks and throughout the entire Daniels and Shady Spring area. Coalfields offers a plethora of locations for new development and growth.
We can reiterate the statistics showing the massive amount of severance taxes southern West Virginia pays and the return on investment we get, rather the lack thereof, from the tax coffers. That’s old news.
The frustration continues to mount because of the numerous delays on just getting the study completed on the Z-Way. It’s gone from we’ll have it finished by early 2008, to later in 2008, and now the last word is probably — and we highlight that because we have serious reservations — sometime in 2009. It won’t be too long before 2010 is here and all we’ll have accomplished is a lot of wheel-spinning.
There is no time like the present, our elected leaders need to make their voices heard, and we need assurances from Charleston that we won’t be sloughed off.
Because what’s different now is that we have a shiny example of what can be done, i.e., the Fairmont Gateway, when “The Switch” gets flipped.
It’s time for our switch to be turned on.