With the recent opening of a nearly 3-mile section of the long-awaited Coalfields Expressway in Buchanan County, the highway in Southwest Virginia is now about 24% completed.
Adding the newest section to the 9 miles already completed means that the road, also known as CFX and U.S. 121, now totals about 12 miles in Southwest Virginia, according to Michelle Earl, communications manager for the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Bristol District.
The newest section is between Southern Gap Road and Poplar Creek Road. It was built in the Southern Gap, a 3,500-acre mixed-use development that is already seeing interest and growth because of the expressway, according to Jonathan Belcher, director of the Coalfields Expressway Authority, and Matt Fields, economic development director for Buchanan County.
Southern Gap, a mix of industrial, commercial, housing and recreation, has been in the works for nearly 20 years. But with the construction of the expressway there, it has taken off in the last few years, said Fields, a Buchanan County native.
Several industries have moved and expanded there, three housing projects are being developed and ground will be broken later this month on an outdoor amphitheater. The county is also building a consolidated high school at Southern Gap, where many other projects are underway.
“I think that the expressway is probably the most important economic development project, definitely for that part of the region because transportation access has been our biggest challenge in recruiting major industry to Buchanan County and Dickenson County, in particular,” said Belcher, who is also the longtime executive director of the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority. “It’s a game changer.”
If fully built, the CFX would total 50 miles in Virginia, and its estimated cost would be $4 billion, Belcher said. It’s currently being built in sections, as the money has become available.
The idea for the roadway surfaced more than 30 years ago as a way to build an economic lifeline to Wise, Buchanan and Dickenson counties; Dickenson currently has no four-lane roads. But it wasn’t until 2023 that the first section opened to traffic.
The progress came after the General Assembly created the Coalfields Expressway Authority in 2017, although no money was attached to the project. VCEDA was asked to get involved in late 2020.
The expressway, which is four lanes except for about 4 miles, will link Interstates 64 and 77 in West Virginia with U.S. 23 in Virginia, which connects to interstates in Tennessee and Kentucky. Sections of the route also overlap Corridor Q, an addition to U.S. 460 that is currently being built and developed. The Virginia portion of Corridor Q in Buchanan County shares just over 7 miles of its alignment with CFX, according to VDOT.
In addition to opening the region to economic development, the road will enhance safety and significantly reduce travel times. It is also expected to boost tourism in an area that Belcher and Fields both described as unmatched in its scenic beauty, particularly in the fall.
The new section, called Poplar Creek Phase A, is already open to traffic, but an invitation-only ribbon-cutting is being held Friday to mark its completion. Its estimated cost is $199 million, according to VDOT.
Work is already underway on the next section, Poplar Creek Phase B, which will add another 2 miles to the road and take it to the bridge in downtown Grundy, which will also be four lanes. The bridge will be the second-tallest bridge in Virginia, behind only the 265-foot-high bridge on 460 near Breaks Interstate Park.
That Grundy leg of the project is expected to cost $178 million and be completed in late 2027, according to a project status map on the VDOT website.
The 11.5-mile Elkins section and the 5-mile Rockhouse portion of the expressway from Grundy to the West Virginia line remain unfunded, the map shows.
On the other side of the project, toward Dickenson and Wise counties, several planned sections of the expressway are also unfunded, including the 4.8-mile Doe Branch portion; the Crane’s Nest section, which is 15.65 miles; and the Pound connector, which totals 6.8 miles.
Funding is ‘the big challenge’
Finding the funding for the remaining 38 miles of the planned project is “the big challenge,” Belcher said. The current estimate of $4 billion, which includes portions already completed, is based on traditional road construction technology, he said.
He said he doesn’t see that amount getting funded through VDOT’s SMART SCALE program, which prioritizes projects through a competitive process.
Considering alternatives could bring the cost down, according to Belcher. Those alternatives could include putting the roadbed on reclaimed surface mine land, which is plentiful in that area. Different routes also could be considered, he added.
To help figure out how the road could be funded in the future, a transportation engineering consultant, ATCS, has been hired to conduct a study, which is expected to be done in about a month, he said.
“For the first time, we have a consultant really looking at a comprehensive strategic plan of how to actually fund the construction of all of those remaining sections. … This new consultant is going to be looking at what programs best fit the funding for the road so then we will be able to go out and apply for whatever we possibly can.”
Still, the funding will remain a struggle because most sources require a 20% state or local match, he added.
“So, it’s always going to be a challenge,” he said.
Meanwhile, West Virginia is actively working on its portion of the road, which will total about 60 miles, according to the state’s transportation department.
The West Virginia side will travel through Raleigh, Wyoming and McDowell counties. A 14-mile stretch from the town of Sophia to Mullens has been completed and opened, and construction is underway on a 5-mile stretch from Welch to West Virginia 16, according to the department’s website.
“So, the idea is that the two states would complete both and they would connect, because if that doesn’t happen you lose a lot of benefit. That’s the goal,’’ said Belcher, who added that officials from the two states have talked about working together.
Finding the funding to build the rest of the expressway will be an “uphill battle,” he said, but he and the authority will work with VDOT to do everything possible to see it completed. The authority’s role is to be a cheerleader for the road and apply for funding, he said, including federal money.
“We have to continue with this because if we don’t, the window of opportunity will definitely be missed,” he said. “If we give up on it now, then I fear it would never get completed. But that is not our plan. We plan to keep working on it as hard as we can.”