Wise Announces DOH to Bid More Work on Coalfields, King Coal Routes
Wise Press Release

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Gov. Bob Wise today announced bids will soon open on four additional contracts for the Coalfields Expressway and King Coal Highway.

Wise, who spent the day in Wyoming and McDowell counties meeting with local leaders, cited the efforts of Senator Robert C. Byrd and Congressman Nick Rahall in providing funding for the projects and noted one of the projects would provide paving that will complete work on a three-mile segment of an upgraded highway in the Sophia area of Raleigh County.

“Each of these contracts is part of an ultimate goal--to provide a new economic lifeline for the people of southern West Virginia.” Wise said.

One contract on each route will be bid Nov. 18, with another on Dec. 9. Bidding on the Coalfields Expressway project scheduled for Nov. 18 calls for excavation to grade and drain 1.2 miles of new W.Va. 121 from Slab Fork to Big Ridge in Raleigh County.

The King Coal Highway contract, the second one for four-lane upgrading of U.S. 52, is for grading and drainage on .22 miles from the recently completed $27 million interchange with Appalachian Corridor Q (U.S. 460) east of Bluefield to U.S. 19. Including demolition of six buildings, the Mercer County project is the first of those necessary to extend the route to Airport Road.

The second Coalfields Expressway contract is for construction of 1.37 miles of W.Va. 121 from Surveyor Creek Road to Slab Fork Road. The Raleigh County contract includes guardrail, pavement marking and signing and the paving necessary to complete four other Sophia-area projects totaling $32 million since 2000.

The second King Coal Highway project calls for excavation to grade and drain .18 miles of four-lane U.S. 52 from Mercer County 25 to south of the old Raleigh Grayson Turnpike, along with demolition of 36 structures. The segment is near the one to be bid Nov. 18, on the opposite side of U.S. 19, over which a bridge will be built under a future contract.