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WV HIGHWAY PROJECTS COULD GENERATE 14,000 JOBS |
| (02/10/2009) |
| State officials are saying West Virginia could see 14,400 jobs created by the highway slice of the federal stimulus legislation. West Virginia is estimated to receive $1.1 billion of stimulus funding, which includes $240 million for state highways. An industry official said 3,840 jobs would come directly from hiring for road and bridge projects. Mike Clowser, executive director of the state contractors' association, said the state should expect 16 direct jobs for every $1 million received. Clowser told legislators that the state stands to gain an equal number of indirect jobs among materials suppliers, equipment dealers and the hauling industry. West Virginia's expected share of highway stimulus funding would cover a fraction of the $970 million worth of ready-to-go road and bridge projects that Gov. Joe Manchin outlined for the Obama administration. Manchin listed 139 such projects, with 15 on the West Virginia Turnpike and the rest on the Division of Highways' road system. The list largely covers repairing, cleaning and painting bridges and repaving roads, said Marvin Murphy, the division's chief highway engineer. Most of these projects could begin within 90 days of the state receiving the money, and the rest starting within 180 days. Murphy noted that most of the projects would rely on contractors. West Virginia is looking at how it could ease its annual struggle with road funding by combining its gasoline taxes, creating a new fee for alternative fuel vehicles, increasing taxes on vehicle titles and indexing registration fees to inflation. West Virginia has the largest percentage of state-owned roads in the country, but only one-fourth of them are eligible for federal highway dollars.
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