April 14, 2024 - While construction has been ongoing on the Coalfields Expressway project in West Virginia, work on the Virginia section of the new four-lane corridor had been largely stalled in recent years. Thankfully that is no longer the case as officials in Southwest Virginia are finally seeing positive progress on the roadway.

A budget bill signed into law last month by President Joe Biden included $7 million in federal funds for the Coalfields Expressway in Virginia. Those funds were sought by U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, D-Va., and U.S. Senator Mark Warner, D-Va.

According to Kaine and Warner, the $7 million in federal dollars will be used by the Virginia Department of Transportation to add additional lanes — an expansion from a two-lane highway to a four-lane highway to the 2.74-mile Poplar Creek Phase A section and the 2.07-mile Poplar Creek Phase B section of U.S. 121/460 within Corridor Q and the Coalfields Expressway in Buchanan County.

The Buchanan County Board of Supervisors voted earlier this month to advance the approval of the 20 percent match funding required to receive the federal funding, according to Virginia Coalfields Expressway Authority Executive Director Jonathan Belcher.

The board voted to allocate $1.75 million in coal road funds to the project and to set the required coal road committee meeting and a public hearing for final approval of the matching funds.

“With the $1.75 million match from Buchanan County, this will allow for the four-laning of the Coalfields Expressway from the town of Grundy to Southern Gap, where it joins the first section already four-laned with the funds the CFX Authority obtained last year for Southern Gap to Route 609,” Belcher said. “Effectively, this now means that except for a couple miles near the Breaks, US 460/121 (CFX) will now be a four-lane from Kentucky to the town of Grundy.”

That’s an exciting development for the Virginia side counties. The new highway will provide not only a modern four-lane transportation corridor but also a boost to ongoing economic development efforts.

“Without the work of the CFX Authority and our federal legislators, this would only have been a two-lane with a few truck climbing lanes,” Belcher added. “We appreciate the work of Congressman Griffith and Senators Warner and Kaine to secure the latest round of $7 million in federal funding to continue to advance the Coalfields Expressway project in Virginia. This is a significant accomplishment for the future of Buchanan and surrounding counties on the expressway route and we look forward to continuing to work with VDOT and our local, state and federal government officials to continue to advance this project.”

The Virginia stretch of the Coalfields Expressway is not to be confused with the West Virginia section of the roadway, which remains under construction in McDowell and Wyoming counties. A section of the Coalfields Expressway also is open to traffic in Raleigh County.

Supporters of the Coalfields Expressway project in Virginia argue that the new four-lane will improve road safety, reduce travel times, open the region to economic development and interstate commerce and connect the Virginia-side counties with additional access to health care. The $7 million federal funding allocation will assist in helping to achieve these important objectives.