By Bonni McKeown, Stewards of the Potomac Highlands

Have something to tell the West Virginia Division of Highways (WVDOH) about Corridor H, Wardensville to Virginia Line? As in Tucker County, this eastern section of Corridor H would rip through a national forest and cripple a small town—Wardensville. Citizen comments are due Nov. 13.

Things to write (or just pick one!):

• Why waste $189 million building 6.8 miles of four-lane ending at the state line? Virginia state and county governments have gone on record against building the Virginia section connecting to I-66/81. WVDOH, in its public statements, bypasses this fact. But it’s true; this is a Road to Nowhere. Maybe you know of a road situation that could use state funding instead.

• Corridor H would cross through Wardensville’s Wellhead Protection Area. WVDOH has offered no remedies in the event that construction ruins the town’s water supply. East Hardy County is full of karst terrain, where groundwater can easily be polluted by surface disturbance and runoff. 

• Corridor H would worsen local traffic problems. On the western edge of Wardensville, a tight curve on the Trout Run Road exit will not accommodate big trucks and speeding cars coming from Corridor H. And Corridor construction parallel to Route 55 won’t decrease the volume of trucks headed to and from Winchester, Virginia, and Wardensville on Route 259.

• Building a four-lane around a small town tends to divert tourist traffic away from Main Street, hurting the growing small businesses. WVDOH’s new design to eliminate a North Mountain interchange will inconvenience locals and divert tourists even further from downtown.

• Trout Run and Waites Run are some of the most pristine Tier 3 native brook trout streams in the Cacapon watershed and all of West Virginia. Mud and pollution from road construction can severely degrade water quality, choke out fish and other aquatic life, and impair recreation. 

• Corridor H would take people’s houses and disrupt Wardensville’s historic small-town atmosphere. It will be hard for displaced people to find homes, as area land prices have surged. 

WVDOH has extended the Wardensville section comment period from Mon. Oct. 23 until Monday, Nov. 13.

Submit a comment online at: https://bit.ly/CorHWardensville

Or you can mail comments to: Mr. Travis Long, Director, Technical Support, WVDOH, 1334 Smith St., Charleston, WV 25301.

Take a minute and send a copy to your local officials, state legislators and Congress members. Let’s put a monkey wrench in the Road to Nowhere!  

For more information, visit the Stewards of the Potomac Highlands online at potomachighlandstewards.org

View the interactive map and Conservation Hub site created by the Allegheny-Blue Ridge Alliance detailing construction plans and other geographical and environmental layers of concern of this section.