Minutes
September 19th, 2007
Recorded Attendees: Gary Howell – Mineral County, Wayne Spiggle-Mineral County Commission, Mona Ridder-Cumberland Times-News, Bob Fisher MDSHA, Brian Carr – WVDOH Charleston, Dave Moe – GC Development Corp, Tom Conlon – Cumberland, MD, Larry Lemon – Sen. Rockefeller Office, Robert Hott – Hampshire County Commission, Steve Sloanaker – Hampshire County Commission, Michael OO’Brian – Hampshire Review, Charlie Baker – Hampshire County Planner, Ken Musgrave – Mineral County, Les Shoemaker – Hampshire County Dev. Auth., Bill Woods – WVDOH Charleston, Cate Johnson – Congressman Mollohan Office.
Introductions: Steve Sloanaker welcomed the group to Taggart Hall where the meeting was held.
Old Business: Wayne Spiggle presented the group with a letter from Senator Byrd thanking the association for visiting his office in
David Moe and Charlie Baker both gave reports on the meeting with Sen. Byrd. They stated the group would like to see a 4-lane
Baker stated that West Virginia has 4 projects DOH is funneling the bulk of highway construction money into, those are; The Mon-Fayette Expressway (Morgantown Bypass), Corridor H, US Route 35, and WV State Route 9. To move US 50 to a priority, it has to have the support of Governor Manchin.
Moe requested funding for the
He also requested that a bill making the North-South US 220 Corridor part of the Appalachian Development Highway System be introduced. This would secure funding for US 220 from the same source as Corridor H, and make US 220 Corridor O.
Gary Howell explained that the US 220 Corridor is becoming more important as a new traffic pattern is emerging on the east coast. Heavy Truck traffic traveling between the Port of Norfolk and the Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit area is shifting from the I-64, I-95, DC Beltway, I-270, I70, PA/OH Turnpike route to a route that uses I-64, I-95, US 17, I-66, Corridor H, US 220, I-68, I-79, PA/OH Turnpike. A route that is less than 30 miles longer, but is saving more than 2 hours off of travel time by missing the heavy Washington DC traffic.
Howell also requested that Rep. Mollohan also introduce a bill on house side similar to the Senate bill requested of Byrd. He stated this would give the bill a better chance of passing.
New Business: Les Shoemaker, Hampshire County Economic Development Director, requested that the group push for the new 4-lane
Wayne Spiggle said the group should wait to check with the different county commission before making such a decision, but was reminded that at the March 2006 meeting the Association had already made that request.
Shoemaker also asked why a 3-lane project on US 50 through Romney was dropped from the WVDOH’s 6-year plan. Brain Carr of WVDOH explained that there has been some opposition to the project, and that the project was not 15 years old. Being 15 years had elapsed, that a new study would need to be done because of the changes that have occurred over that time.
Charlie Baker stated that
He went on to state that a new law allows counties to raise user taxes to fund road projects. It would be mostly used by larger counties for large projects, but smaller counties could use it for small projects that may include improving intersections.
The meeting adjourned at 2:07, with the next meeting to be held in
November Meeting:
Meeting Adjourned at 2:07.
