BISMARCK, W.Va. — The next section of Corridor H in West Virginia will officially open to traffic on Friday afternoon. It’s a 4.7 mile stretch of the four-lane highway in Grant County between an existing Route 93 connector in Scherr and an existing Route 93 connector in Bismarck.
“We just keep inching our way through there,” said Brent Walker, the spokesperson for the West Virginia Department of Transportation, on the progress of the highway which is being built in some of the state’s most mountainous areas.
“It’s pretty rough terrain, but it’s a beautiful road and we’re just excited and anxious to be able to continue to make progress,” said Walker.
State, county and local officials will be part of Friday’s ribbon cutting ceremony. The public is also invited to attend the 12:30 p.m. event. It will be held at an overlook between Bismarck and Scherr.
In the east, the highway is now be open from Wardensville in Hardy County to Bismarck in Grant County.
As the 4.7 mile section opens, Walker said work is already well underway on another 16.2 mile section of Corridor H from Mt. Storm into Davis. That stretch of roadway could open to traffic by early 2015.
At that point, Walker said Corridor H will be around 80 percent complete. The remaining road route lies roughly between Davis and Parsons in Tucker County. “We still have some tough road to hoe, no pun intended,” he said of that next phase of work.
Corridor H was originally conceived in the 1965 Appalachian Regional Development Act as a passage between Weston, W.Va. and Strasburg, Va.
When it’s finished, the 143-mile, four-lane highway will connect Interstate 79 in Lewis County directly to Interstate 81 at Front Royal, Va.