For the News-Tribune

KEYSER — What happens with Corridor H and U.S. Route 220 over the next 10 years is critical to the economic development of the region, according to Mona Ridder, executive director of the Mineral County Development Authority.
Because of concerns  expressed recently by members of the Greater Cumberland Committee and the U.S. Route 50 Association — organizations supporting completion of the Corridor and an upgrade to Route 220 — that federal funding may be cut for these highways, they are taking action to contact federal and state officials to urge continued financial support for these projects.
David Moe of  Garrett County Transportation has been working with Maryland U.S. Senators Joseph Cardin and Barbara Mikulski to keep the projects moving forward.
To that end, Cardin is seeking a $2.4 million earmark in federal funds for the completion of the Tier 1 study started in 2007 in
Maryland and West Virginia. Maryland began the study but state funding was pulled from the project last year.
The bi-state environmental impact study on the highway is required under the National Environmental Policy Act. Once Tier 1 is completed and a path chosen from five originally proposed routes, a Tier 2 study must be done that will address the final environmental issues before the engineering process can begin, according to William Wood of the Division of Highways Planning Section.
Ridder said that West Virginia has nearly completed the Tier 1 portion of the study, though it is somewhat behind schedule.
Highways officials in Charleston say they expect it to be completed this year and will be ready to move forward depending on what happens with future federal earmarks.
“We are ready to begin seeking funding for Tier 2,” said the head of the Division of Highways in Charleston in February.
Ridder has also written letters seeking support and funding earmarks to U.S. Senators Robert C. Byrd and Jay Rockefeller as well as Congressman Alan Mollohan. Mollohan reintroduced legislation for the fourth year in a row to have the section of U.S. Route 220 that connects Corridor H, currently under construction in the region, and Interstate 68 at Cumberland, named as an extension of Corridor O of the Appalachian Regional Commission Highway System.
There are several concerns that action pushing for the upgrade to Route 220 will somehow impact the completion of Corridor H or other highway projects in West Virginia, said Ridder.
Moe pointed out, however, that it is not just West Virginia that is affected by these funding decisions since the section in question is part of the original North/South highway proposal that would establish a major route through Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia and Virginia.
“We need to work with the federal legislators in all of those states if we expect this project to go,” he said.
Ken Dyche, director of the Region 8 Planning and Development Council, also noted that a grass roots coalition, like the one that got Corridor H moving forward, is necessary as well.
“Like most things there needs to be a ground swell of support to get these transportation arteries into some kind of funding mechanism that will ensure their eventual construction and completion,” said Ridder.
Moe said that previous studies for a north/south highway have shown that there would be significant impact in terms of jobs in construction as well as new business growth and long term jobs throughout the region if and when the projects are completed.
Representatives of current industries in the region, including Keith Funkhouser of Alliant Tech, Jim Kauffman of Automated Packaging and others in both Maryland, West Virginia and Pennsylvania, have said they recognize the potential benefit to their businesses for the highway improvements.