Published June 1988 — Download PDF of the original newspaper column
Byrd's-Eye View By U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd Highway Corridor "H," Tug Fork Flood Control, and Other West Virginia Projects The United States Senate recently passed the 1988 Energy and Water Bill. In this bill, I was successful in including several items earmarking federal funds for important West Virginia projects. Among those items was a provision adding $2 million in planning and design money for Appalachian Regional Highway Corridor "H," a four-lane route linking West Virginia's eastern panhandle with Interstate-79. I am also working on another legislative front to obtain $16 million to construct a section of Corridor "H" north of Buckhannon. Corridor "H,” roughly 135 miles in length, would pass through Hardy, Grant, Pendleton, Randolph, Upshur, and Lewis counties. Corridor "H" is vital to West Virginia's future development. Another item for which I won approval in the Energy and Water Bill was $46 million to advance the ongoing Tug Fork flood control project in southeastern West Virginia, including $22.6 million for a floodwall and pump station in Williamson and a floodwall in West Williamson, $3.9 million for land acquisition and floodwall preparation at Matewan, and $2 million for non-structural work in lower Mingo County. The bill also includes a number of other projects important for West Virginia that I supported, such as $60 million for continued construction of the Gallipolis Locks and Dam on the Ohio River near Point Pleasant; $14.2 million for Lock and Dam 7 at Gray's Landing north of Morgantown on the Monongahela River; $2.8 million for Lock 8 on the Monongahela; $6.5 million for the Winfield Lock and Dam on the Kanawha River in Putnam County; $13.3 million for recreational facilities at the Stonewall Jackson Lake and Dam in Lewis County; and approximately $1.84 million for flood control studies in the Potomac River, Monongahela River (including the Cheat), Island Creek, and Cabin Creek basins. This important Energy and Water Appropriations Bill is moving quickly through Congress, and I hope that it will be enacted into law without delay. June 22, 1988