CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The general manager of the West Virginia Parkways Authority said Thursday he expects work to begin next spring on the first of six cell phone towers planned for a dead section of the 88-mile toll road.
GM Greg Barr said the legal hurdles with Verizon should be cleared within a matter of weeks clearing the way for construction on the first tower.
“They will be ready to start turning dirt in the spring and get the tower in,” Barr said.
The line-of-sight towers will be put between the Chelyan toll plaza in Kanawha County and the Mossy toll plaza in Fayette County. Right now cell phone connection from mile-marker 60 to mile-marker 82 is almost non-existent. The Chelyan tower will go up first.
It’s taken most of this year to work out lease agreements with Verizon, the Parkways Authority, state Department of Transportation, state Real Estate Division, federal Highway Administration and several other entities. Barr said the legal work for the other five towers should be simpler.
‘It’s called a master lease and all you do is go in and change descriptions. So the basic form of the lease will not change so it can be used for the other five locations,” Barr said.
The rugged terrain makes it almost impossible to put large towers on tops of the mountains so instead more towers are needed. They will be constructed just off the highway on the Turnpike’s right-of-way.
Three of the six sites already have access approval from the Federal Highway Administration. Barr expects the approval of the final three sites sometime during the next year.
Part of the agreement requires Verizon to make space available on their towers to rent to other cell phone companies. Barr said discussions have already started with AT&T.