Another section of the King Coal Highway in Mercer County has been advertised for construction.
A legal advertisement seeking bids for the next section of the highway, which will extend the new four-lane corridor from Airport Road to Littlesburg Road, appeared Tuesday in the Bluefield Daily Telegraph. The legal advertisement said the bids are due by Sept. 10 at 10 a.m.
While motorists may see some minor preparatory work, the actual project construction still isn’t expected to begin until early 2025, according to an email response provided to the Daily Telegraph by the West Virginia Division of Highway’s engineering division.
“The project is advertised for construction and currently slated in our September 10 letting,” the DOH email said. “Once bids are reviewed, analyzed, and if found acceptable, they are awarded within 30 days of the bid letting. Although there may be some minor preparatory work that may occur in 2024, the major earthwork will not begin until early 2025.”
The 2.5-mile Airport Road to Littlesburg Road project is one of two sections of the King Coal Highway currently planned for Mercer County. The second section, which is still undergoing NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) review would extend the future interstate corridor from Littlesburg Road to the Montcalm community.
The West Virginia Department of Highways is holding a public information workshop today on the Littlesburg Road to Montcalm section of the highway at Montcalm Elementary School. The meeting will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. The school is located at 838 Rock Road.
During today’s hearing, there will be no formal presentations, but the public will be allowed to ask questions and give written comments on the project throughout the meeting.
While the 2.5-mile section of the King Coal Highway from Airport Road to Littlesburg Road is now approved for construction, the 4.3-mile Littlesburg Road to Montcalm section of the interstate corridor is still awaiting final review approval. Today’s meeting is a part of the ongoing NEPA review process, according to the DOH.
That 4.337-mile stretch of the King Coal Highway will go from Montcalm (County Route 11/4) in the north to Littlesburg Road (or West Virginia Route 20) in the south where it will connect to the existing section of the King Coal Highway at Airport Road.
According to Dirar Ahmad, assistant director of the Engineering Division for the DOH, and Travis Long, director of the DOH’s Technical Support Division, the 2.5-mile section from Airport Road to Littlesburg Road has completed the NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) evaluation process, allowing for the construction of a new four-lane road.
“This section is part of the King Coal Highway project and it will include: grading, project, drainage, and paving. It will tie to the recently opened traffic section of the King Coal Highway near the Airport Road section,” Ahmad and Long said in an earlier email to the Daily Telegraph. “To the North East, it will end near Route 20 utilizing a connector to get traffic off of King Coal Highway to WV Route 20. The next 4.3-mile section from Littlesburg to Montcalm is also part of the King Coal Highway project but has not yet completed the NEPA evaluation.”
Work on the existing Airport Road section of the King Coal Highway was finished in late 2023 and opened to traffic just before Christmas.
The King Coal Highway is a four-lane interstate corridor that will ultimately span around 95 miles long and run through McDowell, Mercer, Mingo, Wyoming, and Wayne counties, along or near currently existing U.S. Route 52 from U.S. 119 near Williamson to Interstate 77 in Bluefield. It is West Virginia’s local corridor of the future Interstate 73/74/75 routing and is intended to open up more of West Virginia’s southern coalfields to economic development.
The final interstate routing — once it is completed at some point in the future — will extend from Detroit, Mich., to Myrtle Beach, S.C., opening up a large swath of southern West Virginia to interstate access.
Contact Charles Owens at: cowens@bdtonline.com.
