There’s a national political battle over an infrastructure bill, but West Virginia’s transportation secretary says the state urgently needs the money and support.
“With the advent of the infrastructure bill that we’re awaiting the president’s signature, tomorrow actually, I hope that we can take our three biggest priorities — Corridor H, Coalfield highway and King Coal Highway — and move that ball to unbelievable limits,” Transportation Secretary Jimmy Wriston told legislators Sunday evening.
Corridor H is an Appalachian Highway that cuts through West Virginia’s central mountains to Virginia.
The Coalfields Expressway, or U.S. 121, is a multi-lane highway connecting the West Virginia Turnpike at Beckley with U.S. 23 at Slate, Va.
The King Coal Highway is a four-lane highway running 95 miles across southern West Virginia.
West Virginia residents, including Gov. Jim Justice, have been hungry for the completion of each of those highways projects. Only portions are open so far after years of work.
“I believe we can deliver those projects in a time frame that would be unprecedented. I think we can do this. The only question today is what are the rules, what are the guidelines. We have a good idea how much money is in each bucket. We have not been sitting around for the past four or five years waiting on this infrastructure bill. We assumed it was happening all along.”
Wriston spoke before the Joint Legislative Oversight Commission on Department of Transportation Accountability. Wriston said he and former Transportation Secretary Byrd White had estimated rough amounts of federal infrastructure a few years ago.
“It’s almost exactly what we thought it would be,” said Wriston, who was highways commissioner before being bumped up to transportation secretary. “The dollar figure itself is a little bit bigger. But it’s obvious in the conditions of underinvestment that you’ve seen in infrastructure across the country for decades, bridges are a high priority. Our interstate system needs particular work in particular areas.”
The bill would bring billions of dollars in investment to West Virginia.
Based on funding formulas, federal leaders believe West Virginia could receive $3 billion for highways programs, more than $500 million for bridges, almost $200 million for statewide transit, $43 million for airports, almost $500 million for a range of water quality improvements and almost $600 million for broadband internet.
In addition, there would be at least $700 million for cleanup of mineland property that was abandoned long ago. Similarly, money would be dedicated for cleanup of orphaned gas wells.
U.S. Senators Joe Manchin, a Democrat, and Shelley Moore Capito, a Republican, each voted in favor of the bill. Congressman David McKinley, R-W.Va., was one of 13 Republican congressmen to vote for the bill and has received national backlash for doing so.
Two more members of West Virginia’s congressional delegation, Republicans Alex Mooney and Carol Miller, voted against the bill. They cited its addition to the national debt, some policy aspects of the bill and their belief that it connects to the social safety net Build Back Better bill that is still being negotiated and not up for a vote yet.
McKinley and Mooney are on a collision course for the 2022 Republican primary in a newly-redistricted swath of northern West Virginia.
Former President Donald Trump has taken aim at Republicans who voted for the bill, saying they bailed out a key priority for the struggling Biden administration.
Trump put out a Saturday statement supporting primary challenges to those Republicans, including McKinley. Trump wrote, “Saving America starts by saving the GOP from RINOs, sellouts, and known losers!”
McKinley wrote in a Charleston Gazette-Mail op-ed this weekend that his obligation to West Virginia constituents comes first. He noted a U.S. News and World Report ranking that listed West Virginia 50th for infrastructure.
“Congress has been debating infrastructure for decades, but until last week no comprehensive plan was presented for a vote,” McKinley wrote. “Finally, we had an opportunity to vote on one. While some critics claim we should have waited for the perfect bill, how much longer can West Virginia afford to wait?”
Capito and Manchin jointly penned an op-ed in the Gazette-Mail making similar points. “Across the Mountain State, we are in desperate need of infrastructure investments,” the senators wrote.
“It took months to make this legislation a reality. It was developed with a process of give and take, putting the needs of the American people first.”