Published November 1994 — Download PDF of the original newspaper column
Byrd's-Eye View By U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd 1994 Progress Report
For the past six years -my sixth term as a U.S. Senator from West Virginia -- my sights have been set on laying deeper and broader foundations for our state's economic future, both for the remaining years of the 1990's and well into the dawning 21st century, little more than a half-dozen years ahead. Through my appropriations efforts, federal funding for Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) Corridor Highway G, from Charleston southwest toward Williamson at the Kentucky border, has been completed, as has federal funding for Corridor L, stretching roughly from l- 77 near Beckley, Raleigh County, to I-79 near Sutton, Braxton County; more miles of Corridor H, from 1-79 near Weston eastward toward Buckhannon and Elkins, have opened; and preliminary design and planning work is underway on '..li/grading U.S. 52 between Huntington and Bluefield (proposed 1-73). In addition, I have added federal funding for the Robert C. Byrd Expressway in Weirton and for the upgrading and four-laning of Route 9 in the Eastern Panhandle. Further, as Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I secured necessary federal funding to initiate construction of the new Internal Revenue Service computing center and to further equip the new, 130-person Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms facility -- both in Martinsburg, Berkeley County. Additionally, through my efforts, another 400 new employees are being added to the consolidated Bureau of Public Debt in Parkersburg. Wood County, which will eventually employ approximately 1,540 people. In addition, in September, I broke ground for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's new' National Education and Training Center near Shepherdstown, Jefferson County, another facility for which I added funding to federal appropriations bills. In crime fighting, my appropriations efforts advanced the continued construction of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Fingerprint Identification Center near Clarksburg. Harrison County, which will eventually employ an estimated 2,500 people; and the construction of the new Federal Medium Security Prison at Beckley, Raleigh County, which will employ nearly 500 people and which is more than two thirds complete. Moreover, I was successful in adding funding for construction of new library facilities at Marshall University, Huntington, and the College of West Virginia, Beckley, as well as a new science and technology facility at Shepherd College, in the Eastern Panhandle. These examples represent only a portion of the initiatives on which I have been working to provide new opportunities for economic growth for West Virginia and her people well into the next century. During my seventh term in the Senate, I shall continue doing everything feasible to promote West Virginia's economic growth and future statewide prosperity. November 23, 1994