CHARLESTON, WV – Gov. Jim Justice announced last week that he has approved the bid award for paving work on the section of Corridor H (U.S. Route 48) between Kerens and Parsons; a major project in Gov. Justice’s Roads To Prosperity program.
“To say this project is a big deal would be an understatement. We’re upgrading thousands of roads all across the state, but Corridor H has always been my number one priority in terms of our highways,” Gov. Justice said Feb. 24. “Finishing Corridor H will bring more people and businesses through our state than you can imagine, and with them will come more jobs, exposure, and countless other great opportunities.”
The contract for the project has been awarded to West Virginia Paving Inc., with a low bid of $29,970,497.14.
Work will include 7.5 miles of asphalt paving on Corridor H; from Kerens in Randolph County to where the corridor connects with U.S. Route 219 – just east of Parsons in Tucker County.
The winning bid for the project was more than $6.5 million under the West Virginia Division of Highways (WVDOH) Engineer’s Estimate of $36,516,269.10.
“Time and again, we’re saving West Virginians millions upon millions of dollars on these major projects that we’re undertaking. I could not be more proud of the efforts of our Department of Transportation,” Gov. Justice said. “I also could not be more excited to get to work on this project. We call our efforts to upgrade our highways our ‘Roads To Prosperity’ program, and this project is truly going to bring a pipeline of prosperity to the eastern part of our state.”
When Corridor H is fully completed, it will connect Interstate 79 in Weston to Interstate 81 in Strasburg, Virginia.
“As the Governor has pointed out, this may be the highest priority project in the state and we are committed to completing the entire corridor,” West Virginia Department of Transportation Deputy Secretary Jimmy Wriston, P.E. said. “Once that road is complete, it will open up that area of the state to economic opportunities, which lead to true prosperity. It all works together.”
Currently, 101 miles of Corridor H are open to traffic in West Virginia, with 31 miles left to open, including the section from Kerens to Parsons. To date, an estimated $1.93 billion has been spent on Corridor H. However, an estimated $1.10 billion-worth of work remains.
The completion of Corridor H has been in the works for decades, but stalled out years ago. However, when Gov. Justice took office and instituted his Roads To Prosperity program, additional funding began to be secured and work on the corridor picked back up.
In June 2020, Gov. Justice announced that West Virginia had been awarded $12 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation to help fund the section of Corridor H between Kerens and Parsons.
The paving project from Kerens to Parsons is scheduled to begin this spring. The project currently has an estimated completion date of late 2023.
