NINETY-ONE MILE BLUE-GRAY HIGHWAY COULD COST $1 BILLION - Road Would Cross Six Counties

(03/18/2004)

Jack Burlingame (L) and Mark Whitley (R) discuss visionary Blue-Gray Inter-modal Highway "The Blue-Gray Inter-modal Highway is a whole lot more than just building a road. It's revitalization," said Jack Burlingame, at a meeting of the group help last night in Glenville. Burlingame is leading the movement to construct a connector highway across six counties, which would link the Ohio River with I-79. The roadway is proposed to generally follow U. S. 33. He told several county commissioners and other members of the group "An inter-modal highway relates to economic development, and is directly linked to benefiting the business community." It would also provide access for people to go to work in addition to increasing tourism activity. "It would streamline the transportation system," he said. The 91 mile road would cross six counties, including Calhoun, and would be built at a cost of about $1 billion. Bill Wood, an engineer with the WVDOT said it costs between $12-$15 million dollars a mile to build this kind of road through the mountains. The group heard several reports, including information from Mark Whitley regarding the development of a Roane County airport. Whitley said a $116,000 grant is being used to prepare the final stages of converting the private Bogg's Airport to a public facility. Burlingame said a historical presentation regarding the Blue-Gray Trail will be made at the Spencer Rotary meeting on March 29th. The Blue-Gray proposal joins the Little Kanawha Parkway as possible highways to open up the area.

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