By Stephen Smoot
During the past 30 years, the extension of Corridor H past Elkins and toward the Virginia State Line has changed the Potomac Highlands region considerably.
The Statewide Transportation Improvement Plan released last month for the next three years has revealed the future of that important highway while also informing Pendleton County residents of projects important to locals.
Pendleton County is slated to receive bridge and road work. The West Virginia Division of Highways has slated for 2026 the replacement of the Briery Gap Bridge. Under the category of “Road Preservation” sits a paving project planned for US 33 between Franklin and Kiser Gap.
Resurfacing will also take place on US 220 between Upper Tract and the Grant County line, as well as Roots Run Road on North Mountain.
Much of this change wrought by Corridor H has seen the rise of visitors from the Washington, D.C., and Northern Virginia metropolitan areas. This has contributed to the expansion of the tourism economy throughout the region.
Since construction, the highway’s impact has been better than advertised. It contributed mightily to the renaissance of Wardensville and Thomas while improving commercial transport, and supporting established manufacturing and processing. It has also opened opportunities for business, both new and old. Travelers have found the modern highway safer than the two-lane winding roads that connected Hardy County with everywhere else.
Construction will open in 2026 on the two incomplete sections that bookend the route between Thomas and Wardensville. A large part of the work yet to be finished between Parsons in Tucker and Kerens in Randolph County will go to the nearly $80 million Roaring Run Bridge with about $26 million scheduled for work this coming year.
Governor Jim Justice’s secretary of transportation said a little over a year ago that “this accomplishment involved many late nights of work and after-hour meetings involved in coordinating with our partners at FHWA, Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, Monongahela National Forest, local leaders, our design consultants, and residents of the local communities. With this project now being underway, only two sections remain in achieving the ultimate goal of fully completing Corridor H.”
Another related project will see just over $20 million in federal and state funds spent to improve West Virginia Route 72 between the Corridor H intersection and Parsons.
After the road extends from Kerens to Parsons, that leaves the section that will eventually connect Parsons to Davis. No work has taken place on construction, but over $9 million will go towards “wetland mitigation” to reduce impacts of the road work on the surrounding area.
The released information indicated that much of the highway planned to connect Wardensville and the state line would commence on May 28 of next year. Grading and draining the land to prepare for the road bed will come first. Grading, draining, and construction will continue into 2027.
Planned projects may not always find their way through to completion. In recent years, a STIP release contained information about a proposed project to construct an emergency truck lane off US 33 on the east slope of Allegheny Mountain, but never came to fruition.
