Published: January 31, 2008 11:00 pm         

Raleigh officials fret after meeting on Z-Way

Study continues to delay project

CHARLESTON — Beckley-Raleigh County Transportation Authority officials voiced their frustration and concerns Thursday to state Division of Highways officials over delays in beginning a study on the multi-faceted Z-Way roads project.

“We are absolutely frustrated,” said Bill Baker, president of the authority. “I guess we are going to have to wait and see what kind of timeline the state DOH and its consulting firm will have regarding this study. Also, once the timeline is established, will they stick to it?”

Authority officials met with DOH officials in Charleston to get an update on the project and to discuss concerns.

Baker asked DOH officials why the study had not been completed after the consulting firm of Wilbur Smith & Associates was selected for the project.

“If it is taking longer than it should, we apologize for that,” said Jim Sothen, deputy state highway engineer. “We will get the study going as quickly as we can.”

Sothen said the contract with the consultant has yet to be finalized and signed.

“We have completed negotiations and received the final proposal on Jan. 10,” he explained. “The agreement is being drafted, then a letter for final approval will be sent.”

Sothen said the contract should be signed within the next few weeks.

Wes Stafford, of Wilbur Smith & Associates, said the study would be done in two phases once his firm receives notice to proceed from the state. The first phase of the study could be completed by the end of the year, he said.

“In a perfect world, it could be completed by June, but when allowing for possible delays or other unforeseen situations, December would be more realistic,” Stafford said.

Phase one of the study would include an update of land use, traffic volumes and evaluation of the links in the road plan, Stafford said.

Phase two, the design study and cost estimate of the entire project, could be completed by next spring or early summer, Stafford added.

Father Thomas Acker, a member of the authority, stressed the need for specific deadlines.

“Give us some specific deadlines so that we can know when things are going to be done or supposed to have been done,” he said.

Sothen said the consultant must provide a timeline for the study once the final contracts are signed.

However, Sothen added that even if the study is done, the state has no money to construct a major road project like Z-Way.

“We are working with the Legislature to see how we can construct major projects like this one,” he said. “There is a lot of money being spent on studies, but very little construction is taking place.”

Baker told Sothen that $500,000 had been allocated by Congressman Nick Rahall for the study and efforts for funding construction cannot even begin until the study is complete.

“If you finish your job, then we can begin working on other funding efforts,” Baker said. “It’s pretty hard to ask for funding when the study that tells us the cost of the project hasn’t been done.”

Sen. Mike Green, D-Raleigh, also attended the meeting and urged DOH officials to move forward as quickly as possible with the study.

“We don’t have a starting point until this study is done,” he said. “We want to be, and have to be, part of the solution.”

DOH officials remained tight-lipped when asked if the $500,000 allocated by Rahall was enough to pay for the study.

“It not a problem to do the study,” Sothen said. “The delay has been in getting estimates done, negotiating contracts and getting them signed. It’s a lengthy process.”

Authority members stressed the need for the Z-Way project, which they say would help alleviate the traffic bottleneck on Eisenhower Drive, along with similar problems along U.S. 19, W.Va. 3 and 307 in the Beaver-Daniels-Shady Spring area, as well as other traffic concerns involving Raleigh County Memorial Airport.

Baker said consultants who put together the state’s six-year highways plan did not properly evaluate Raleigh County and the Z-Way project. The state says it considers growth, need, demand and a few other factors when putting together the six-year plan.

“We have the growth, need and demand, and I was told it would be re-evaluated,” he said. “If these traffic flow problems are not addressed, economic development in Raleigh County is going to stop.”

Sothen said in compiling the six-year plan the idea was to identify the greatest needs. Attention was focused on three projects, according to Sothen, which included Corridor H, U.S. 35 and W.Va. 9 in the Eastern Panhandle.

“We are only doing work that is absolutely necessary,” he said.

Baker and other authority members pointed to the fact those projects are in the northern part of the state.

Woody Duba, another member of the authority, said the state’s 3rd Congressional District pays more than half of the state’s severance taxes, but only receives about 20 percent of the state’s highway dollars. He noted the other two congressional districts receive $2 in highway funding for each dollar paid in severance taxes.

“We contribute by paying four times more in severance taxes, but it is not applied equally back to our area,” he said. “That is very upsetting and very unfair.”

Sothen did say the DOH would be accepting bids beginning Feb. 28 for Beckley’s traffic light synchronization project.

“I am glad that project if finally moving forward,” Baker said.

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