BECKLEY, W.Va. — Congestion in Raleigh County will soon be alleviated, as ground for the southern portion of the Beckley Z-Way project was broken on Thursday
Governor Jim Justice, West Virginia Transportation Secretary Jimmy Wriston, and other officials joined in for the ceremony of the nearly $110 million project. The project features two different construction contracts working on eliminating traffic backups on US 19 in Beaver, Shady Spring, and Beckley. The project is funded by the Roads to Prosperity program created by Justice.
Justice says this has been in the works for a long time, but now it’s real.
“This has been in the works for decades, so it’s a reality now,” Justice said Thursday. “It’s happening due to the Roads to Prosperity program, and lots and lots of goodness happening right here in Southern West Virginia.”
Wriston says the Beckley Z-Way has had years of work done behind the scenes, and this will help the Beaver community.
“We’ve been working on the Beckley Z-Way for probably two and a half decades that I’m aware of,” Wriston said. “Everybody from this area knows that Beaver is a parking lot in the morning, it’s a parking lot in the afternoon. This is going to help.”
The southern part of the Z-Way will form a shortcut from the Beaver/Shady Spring area to Interstate, as well see the construction of a middle lane on US 19 between the two towns.
The first project of the southern part of the Z-Way will construct a new roadway from US 19 and Airport Road to I-64 will cost $56.7 million and was awarded to Kanawha Stone Company Inc. in June 2023. The second project will connect the intersection of US 19 and WV 3 at Shady Spring with US 19 at Beaver, which will connect with the Beaver to South Eisenhower Drive section of the Z-Way. The second project will be 3.6 miles and will cost nearly $54 million. That project was awarded to Mountaineer Contractors Inc.
Justice says the dollars from the Roads to Prosperity program will multiple and see a lasting impact.
“The multiplier effect of those dollars is unbelievable, but the lasting legacy of those dollars is absolutely what we’re all about,” Justice said.
Wriston says this project lines up with what Justice’s vision was for the Roads to Prosperity program.
“This is exactly what kind of project that the governor envisioned when he instituted the Roads to Prosperity program,” Wriston said. “This is a project that has lingered for decades and decades because we’ve under-invested in our infrastructure for decades and decades.”
Wriston says he anticipates the entirety of both portions of the project will take two or more years to finish.
“I think these two projects will probably be two, two and a half year projects,” Wriston said. “These are fairly large projects, both of them, and they’re a little complex. You can see we’re down here in the valley and up in the interstate, there’s quite a bit of elevation differences, so we had to deal with that in the design phase.”
The existing US 19 will stay open while the section from Shady Spring to Beaver is being worked on, while the section from Beaver to South Eisenhower Drive will feature a new roadway.