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Coalfields Expressway

Started by hbelkins, December 19, 2014, 07:30:46 PM

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seicer

With current funding, you can expect to see the segment from the Kentucky state line to US 460 near Grundy finished. It's a tougher sell for a new terrain alignment from there towards Welch. Considering Virginia can't even get moving on building Corridor H in their state, completing an expressway to the state line like what will be done in Wardensville won't exactly expedite any construction.


rickmastfan67

#201
Quote from: hbelkins on November 10, 2023, 09:44:25 PM
Breaks Park Road is signed for both US 460 (right) and VA 80 (left).

OSM is currently showing that VA-80 has been rerouted up to Coalfields (in this changeset) to end, and no longer goes to the KY border.  I've reached out to that OSM user about this to see when this might have happened, since StreetView is useless in this area (hasn't been around since 2012).

hbelkins

Quote from: rickmastfan67 on November 11, 2023, 11:36:07 PM
Quote from: hbelkins on November 10, 2023, 09:44:25 PM
Breaks Park Road is signed for both US 460 (right) and VA 80 (left).

OSM is currently showing that VA-80 has been rerouted up to Coalfields (in this changeset) to end, and no longer goes to the KY border.  I've reached out to that OSM user about this to see when this might have happened, since StreetView is useless in this area (hasn't been around since 2012).

You mean Corridor Q.

When I was last there, a few months ago, VA 80 is still signed all the way to the Kentucky state line, where it becomes KY 80.

2023 Jan-June photos - 1038 by H.B. Elkins, on Flickr

Start at this photo and work forward for more signage photos from earlier this year.


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

hbelkins

(Also crossposted in the Corridor Q thread...)

https://www.wymt.com/2023/11/14/caution-urged-after-new-road-opens-connecting-states-around-breaks-interstate-park/?fbclid=IwAR3-jutauu9Mz-dYEYXXUiUPobMYQxdbBmH4nQPeKKO0zY3Ys18CKpMJ0UA

(There's a unisign US 460 marker at the end of the VA 80 connector that has erroneous VA 460 signs posted.)

I had every intention of making it down there over the long weekend to check the new road out, but I got hit with either a nasty stomach bug or an intense case of food poisoning the Tuesday night before Thanksgiving and was pretty well out of commission the rest of the week and the weekend. God willing, I plan to go check it out Saturday.

Google Maps has the new alignment now visible. It ends at Virginia SR 604.


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

VTGoose

From today's Cardinal News (https://cardinalnews.org/2024/03/15/7-million-in-federal-funding-for-coalfields-expressway-project-is-well-timed-official-says)

"The news this week that the Coalfields Expressway project will get $7 million in federal funding couldn't have come at a better time, the head of the authority overseeing the project said Thursday.

The money will be used to add two more lanes to a nearly 5-mile, two-lane section being constructed between Grundy and Southern Gap in Buchanan County, according to Jonathan Belcher, executive director of the Virginia Coalfields Expressway Authority.

The Virginia Department of Transportation was getting ready to start paving the road, and the paving can now be done as a four-lane, Belcher said."

"For more than 30 years, the Coalfields Expressway was discussed as a way to open an economic lifeline to Buchanan, Dickenson and Wise counties and connect the communities there. The project was formally announced in 2002, but it wasn't until November 2023 that its first section, from the Breaks Interstate Park to the Southern Gap industrial park in Buchanan County, opened. Those 2.57 miles of the expressway overlap with 8.7 miles of the U.S. 460/U.S. 121 Corridor Q road project."
"Get in the fast lane, grandma!  The bingo game is ready to roll!"

seicer

I hope it's not more of the four-lane undivided road they have built.

Life in Paradise

Quote from: seicer on March 15, 2024, 01:00:36 PM
I hope it's not more of the four-lane undivided road they have built.
The way I was reading between the lines, I would almost guarantee that it is simply a four lane road separated by a double yellow line.  It would cost a lot more if it was divided by a median.

seicer

When I was driving the newest segment to open versus what's closer to the Kentucky border, I was not sure there was enough right-of-way for a four-lane divided facility, either. I think the four-lane undivided portions will come back to haunt VDOT in the future, considering that it's essentially a freeway in Kentucky (with an unrealistic 55 MPH speed limit) degrading to an undivided road (with an equally unrealistic 55 MPH speed limit) in Virginia.



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