CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A Lexington, Kentucky-based company is the apparent low bidder to build a new four-lane highway in Boone County to the Rock Creek Development Park, the state DOH said.
Bids were opened Tuesday for the Public Private Partnership (PPP) project with the apparent low bid of $57.8 million from Bizzack Construction.
The 2.6 mile four-lane highway will take traffic from the U.S. Route 119-Route 3 intersection in Boone County up to the former Hobet mountaintop removal mining site, now called Rock Creek, which Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin and others hope will be a major industrial area for the state.
The bids came in lower than expected because the DOH has decided to connect the new highway to state Route 3 which comes off of U.S. Route 119 (Corridor G) instead of making an entire new connection to Corridor G.
“That made it a little bit easier to go ahead and turn off and then begin whatever ascent to the property,” state DOH spokesman Brent Walker said.
Bizzack’s bid could be approved by the end of the week with construction possibly beginning next spring.
The project was approved by the Federal Highway Administration to be part of the federal highway system, making it eligible for federal funds, the DOH previously said.
State Commerce Secretary Keith Burdette also said putting the road project out to bid would let potential developers at Rock Creek know the state isn’t bluffing about the flat property that is the size of Huntington.