Dead Ahead: A Future Full of Roadblocks, Unless . . .; We open up our state to prosperity.
Bonni McKeown says that the proposed Corridor H highway through West Virginia is a bad idea {Close to Home, May 10}. She argues that it is unnecessary to the local economy, will trash the environment and is a pork-barrel project of Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W. Va.) and a few businessmen. She is wrong on all counts.</br></br>West Virginia has the third-highest unemployment rate and the second-lowest per capita income among the 50 states. Further, the six counties through which Corridor H will pass have a higher unemployment rate and a lower per capita income than West Virginia as a whole.</br></br>Nearby counties, which also would be affected by the new road, have similarly dismal statistics. The 18-county region of 325,000 people has one of the poorest performing economies in a poorly performing state.</br></br>The answer is the improved access for business that only Corridor H can provide. Improving existing two-lane roads, as McKeown suggests, won't work. Industries look for four-lane roads. In addition, the cost of the road improvements that she suggests would come close to equaling the cost of Corridor H. Building the corridor also would reduce the need for improvements to the state's two-land roads because it would divert traffic from them.</br></br>As to the argument about trashing the environment: In much of West Virginia now, the only jobs are in coal mining, timbering and other extractive industries. Corridor H would encourage a diversified economy, to the benefit of the environment.