Of late there has been some controversy about the plan to route Corridor H within shouting distance of Greenland Gap in Grant County.

Corridor H is the four-lane highway which would run east from Elkins before ending in the middle of nowhere near the Virginia line.

Greenland Gap is home to various historic sites and splendid natural areas. There are Civil War battlefield sites there; the Nature Conservancy maintains a nature preserve there; there are spectacular views from the cliffs. All of this will be damaged if we build a highway too close to it. Try as we might to wish away the damage with talk of minor route adjustments and being especially careful during construction, there is no way to avoid the conclusion that this splendid area will be seriously damaged by construction of a major highway.

When confronted with this reality, the Department of Highways and various public officials will do what they always do. They will wrinkle their brows, purse their lips, try to look thoughtful and offer up some platitude about the need to balance environmental protection with economic progress. Those who are really good at it will talk about how they feel the pain of those concerned about places like Greenland Gap. They will offer reassurance that they have done everything possible to reduce the damage and then explain the painful reality that places like Greenland Gap have to be sacrificed for the overall economic good. Given that there are things of value all along the proposed route of Corridor H that will be damaged, they should have this routine down pat by now.

This little drama has been with us for decades. Whenever anyone asks questions about the entire Corridor H project or any segment of it, we go through this little dance in which we weigh the economic benefits of the project against what it would destroy.

What would happen if there were no economic benefits? What would happen if we looked at the economic side of the balance sheet and found nothing? So far as Corridor H is concerned, that is what is happening.

The Appalachian corridor highway system has been under construction for well over 20 years. State governments and the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) have spent a pile of money, building what would eventually be a regional highway system. Some of the highways have been completed. Others are in various stages of planning or construction.

So as to figure out if the government was getting its money’s worth, ARC did a study of twelve of the highways that had been completed. The study considered savings in travel time, savings in vehicle operating costs, and accident savings. It gave each of these a monetary value and then compared that monetary value with the cost of building the roads.

Using what the study found about transportation efficiency, the study then drew conclusions about how much this greater transportation efficiency translated into an overall economic benefit.

The study included three West Virginia highways. Each of the three cost more to build than it saved in travel time, vehicle operating costs, and accident costs. For Corridor E, which runs from Morgantown east across western Maryland, the public saved seventy four cents in transportation costs for each dollar spent on construction. For Corridor L, which runs from Sutton to Beckley, the public saved eighty five cents in transportation costs for every dollar spent in construction. For Corridor D, which runs from Clarksburg to Parkersburg and later continues to Cincinnati, the public saved seventy eight cents in transportation costs for every dollar spent on construction.

Some of the Appalachian corridor highways in other states have resulted in savings that were more than the cost of construction. It is at least theoretically possible that Corridor H will produce more benefit than it costs to build. It’s just not likely.

In 1995 the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) did a separate study of Corridor H. Based on EPA’s cost-benefit ratio, the prospective highway was rated as environmentally unsatisfactory. The then regional EPA administrator, Peter Kostmeyer, was fired because he would not water down his appraisal based on that study. His replacement, Michael McCabe, said "the state has not shown that the economic gains from the highway would be worth the environmental damage it would cause." (Apparently this criticism was toned down sufficiently so McCabe could keep his job).

So why are we even continuing to talk about building Corridor H? If we are to ruin places such as Greenland Gap, shouldn’t our efforts at least make economic sense?

If we are to continue to suck money from other road projects so we can pay West Virginia’s share of the costs of Corridor H, shouldn’t we at least get our money’s worth?

Corridor H is not just about sacrificing some of our special places so that the economy will benefit. It is about giving up our special places for a highway that can’t even justify itself economically. While opinions may differ on how severe the damage to the environment will be, it is a cinch that the environment will not get any better because of Corridor H. If it can’t justify itself economically, why build it?

Robert "Buck" True of the Barbour County Roads, Action and Jobs Committee is a retired civil and mining engineer who spent 18 months designing the proposed route.

True told the commissioners Tuesday he wants the proposed four-lane to begin at the US 33/250 intersection and then run through Junior, Belington, and Philippi, where it would join Route 57 and run to the intersection with I-79 at Anmoore. True’s plan would also make state Route 38 from Barbour County into Tucker County a four-lane road, and would make US 250 a four-lane all the way through Barbour into Taylor County.

True asked the commissioners to send a letter of support . . . True said the road would benefit Randolph County because the state's eastern panhandle is "overcrowded," and the new four-lane "will bring traffic this way." . . . He said the proposed road would "break the monotony of I-79" and entice manufacturers and other companies to bring high-tech jobs to the area. . . .

"I think you’re on the right track," Commissioner Walt Schmidlen said. "It looks like you’ve taken a pretty logical approach."

"I think it’s a great move," [Commissioner] Herron said. "You need something to open that area up. People are waiting on it."