Tag: Department of Transportation

W.Va. Receives $30 Million To Revitalize Coal Communities

This year, nearly $30 million in federal funding will go toward projects that revitalize West Virginia’s coalfield communities and repurpose abandoned mine lands across the state.

In an effort to repurpose abandoned mine lands, state officials have granted millions of dollars in federal funding to community development projects on former West Virginia coalfields.

The funding was secured in the latest round of the Abandoned Mine Land Economic Revitalization (AMLER) Program. Since 2016, the program has provided federal dollars to community and economic development projects that rehabilitate coalfields, as well as the towns surrounding them.

West Virginia has hundreds of abandoned coal mining sites, with an estimated 173,000 acres of land across the state abandoned before 1977 alone.

For 2024, West Virginia was granted just under $30 million through the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE), which oversees the program.

This year’s funding marks the most West Virginia has received since 2016, the first year of the program.

With OSMRE’s final approval still pending, West Virginia officials said that this year’s funding would be divided between 10 different economic development initiatives across the state.

Projects selected for funding by state officials this year include a cattle processing facility in Brooke County, a sports park in Marion County and a heritage center in Ohio County.

Announced Thursday, the following projects were tapped for AMLER funding this year by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, the West Virginia Department of Commerce, the West Virginia Department of Transportation and the Governor’s Office:

  • Chief Logan Resort and Recreation Center, Logan County: $6,800,000
  • West Virginia Farm Foods, Brooke County: $4,000,000
  • City of Thomas Water Improvement Project, Tucker County: $3,000,000
  • Cleanwater RU2 Process Project, Kanawha County: $2,950,000
  • Ashland Resort Tourism Park, McDowell County: $2,993,500
  • Liberty Station Lodge & Tavern, Mercer County: $2,421,968
  • Opal Smith Highwall and Roanoke Center Expansion, Lewis County: $2,406,739
  • Gravity Adventure Park, Kanawha County: $2,163,954
  • Wheeling Heritage Center, Ohio County: $2,011,172
  • Baxter VFD Sports Park, Marion County: $600,000

State Transportation Project Contracts Top Out Year At $1 Billion

The number could be even bigger if lawmakers reverse a change they made in 2016, Secretary Jimmy Wriston testified.

The West Virginia Department of Transportation reports an “unheard number” of projects under contract for the year.

As the year comes to a close, Transportation Secretary Jimmy Wriston told lawmakers his department has a billion dollars of projects under contract. 

“That’s unheard of in Highways,” he said.

Still, Wriston told the Joint Oversight Commission on Transportation Tuesday, the number could be even bigger if lawmakers reverse a change they made in 2016.

Prior to then, Wriston said, a sales tax on road construction materials directly funded the department’s projects. But lawmakers diverted those revenues to the general fund.

“Just looking at that sales tax, you could see how much more we could be doing,” Wriston said.

Wriston estimated the revenues to be in the tens of millions.

Daniel Linville, R-Cabell, chair of the joint commission, told Wriston that restoring the sales tax revenues to the department is something “I’d personally like to see us correct there.”

Streetscape Construction Continues In Downtown Wheeling

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg toured the Wheeling Streetscape project in July.

Construction on a project to renew downtown Wheeling’s streets and sidewalks continues.

The West Virginia Department of Transportation is installing drainage structures along Main and Market streets in Wheeling.

The construction requires pedestrian and traffic detours but with access to all businesses.

Crews still need to install sidewalks and trees and shrubs. They will replace traffic lights and eventually mill and pave the affected streets.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg toured the Wheeling Streetscape project in July. It received a $16 million grant from a federal discretionary infrastructure spending program called RAISE, or Rebuilding America’s Infrastructure With Sustainability and Equity.

The $32 million project broke ground last year and is scheduled to be completed by the summer of 2025.

State-Owned South Branch Valley Railroad Gains New Operator

Denver-based OmniTrax will operate and manage the South Branch Valley Railroad beginning on Dec. 1.

A new operator has been chosen for a state-owned shortline railroad in the Potomac Highlands.

Denver-based OmniTrax will operate and manage the South Branch Valley Railroad beginning on Dec. 1.

The South Branch Valley is a 52-mile railroad from Petersburg to Green Spring, where it interchanges with CSX. 

The line has been owned by the West Virginia Department of Transportation since 1978. The railroad is headquartered in Moorefield. 

The South Branch Valley moves freight traffic and runs the Potomac Eagle passenger trains. 

OmniTrax also operates the Winchester and Western Railroad in West Virginia. The company has 24 additional railroad properties nationwide.

2 W.Va. Shortline Railroads Get Federal Funding For Upgrades

The Appalachian & Ohio Railroad and the Kanawha River Railroad will receive as much as $16 million and $19 million, respectively.

The U.S. Department of Transportation is giving two West Virginia shortline railroads money for improvements.

The Appalachian & Ohio Railroad and the Kanawha River Railroad will receive as much as $16 million and $19 million, respectively.

That’s from the Federal Railroad Administration’s Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvement Program, made possible by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021.

The two railroads will use the money to rehabilitate track, locomotives, bridges and tunnels.

The Appalachian & Ohio operates 158 miles of track between Grafton and Cowen and hauls primarily coal. It interchanges with CSX.

The Kanawha River Railroad operates 385 miles of track from Columbus, Ohio, to Elmore, West Virginia, and hauls coal, chemicals, cement, aggregates and metals. It interchanges with Norfolk Southern and CSX.

The two awards are part of USDOT’s $1.4 billion total investment for 70 projects in 35 states.

Cass Scenic Railroad Reopens 15 Miles Of Track Along Greenbrier River

A washed out bridge closed the line for almost 40 years following a flood in 1985.

With a blast of the whistle from Shay steam locomotive No. 5, the Cass Scenic Railroad rolled once again on the line from Cass to Durbin.

A washed out bridge closed the line for almost 40 years following a flood in 1985.

Secretary of Transportation Jimmy Wriston was on hand for the inaugural run across the new Trout Run bridge, which was built by his department.

“That’s what we do in this state,” he said. “When we have a tough job to do, we roll up our sleeves and do it. That’s what happened and that’s what this bridge represents.”

Cass can now run trains on the entire 15 miles of track along the Greenbrier River.

The Greenbrier Express will operate on Saturdays and Sundays starting this weekend and Wednesday through Sunday from Memorial Day to Labor Day. 

The trains depart Cass at 10 a.m.

To book a ticket, visit mountainrailwv.com.

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