The West Virginia Department of Transportation and Gov. Jim Justice recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for the Coalfields Expressway (WV 121) extension in Raleigh and Wyoming counties.
The $33 million project will nearly double the length of the Coalfields Expressway to 18 miles.
Once completed, the expressway will connect Slab Fork to Mullens. It will be the first four-lane highway built in Wyoming County.
“I came to you with the Roads to Prosperity bond and now two years later, this section of road is finally going to be done,” Justice said. “After all those years waiting, we got it done. There’s so many people who have worked like crazy to get to where we are now. But I also hope to goodness you look at your leader and see a governor who put an emphasis on getting this done, and lo and behold we are getting it done.”
The Coalfields Expressway Authority was created in the early 1990s. A decade later, construction began, but only reached Slab Fork before funding ran out.
In 2017, Justice said he would complete the expressway if his road bond referendum passed.
Work includes 100,000 feet of surface drainage pipe and 228,000 feet of striping.