BY THE WAY

NEWS FROM CORRIDOR H ALTERNATIVES - - - - - - - - - - - - MAY/JUNE 2000

 

Inside:
* Transition for CHA
* What’s happening section by section: Latest Developments
* Update on Natural Places, Civil War Battlefields

LAWSUIT SETTLED--NEW BARRIERS PUT UP:
AS A SINGLE PROJECT, CORRIDOR H IS DEAD

After months of face-to-face meetings followed by more months of wrangling over language, Corridor H Alternatives and its fourteen co-plaintiffs finally reached an agreement with state and federal highway agencies to settle our lawsuit against the proposed highway.

Between Elkins and the Virginia line, Corridor H has been broken up into nine separate projects. Some will be built soon, others won't see the bulldozers for years to come and not at all if resistance is successful. The state does not have the money to build even a third of the total now. The battle will continue over each project's funding and environmental impacts. As a single $1.7 billion project, Corridor H is dead.

Back to square one
The agreement requires the West Virginia Department of Transportation (WVDOT) to look for new alignments that would avoid both the Corricks Ford Civil War Battlefield south of Parsons, and the entire Blackwater Canyon between Hendricks and Thomas. For these "avoidance alignments," there will be new Environmental Impact Statements with full public participation. Essentially, in those areas WVDOT has to start over.

Another change may be necessary around Greenland Gap in Grant County, a Civil War battlefield and potential National Natural Landmark. Also, a six-mile section from Wardensville to the Virginia border will not be built for twenty years, unless Virginia reverses its decision not to build the highway, or traffic increases dramatically on that portion of WV 55. Specific standards are built into the agreement. In total, these delays affect nearly 40 of the Corridor's 100 miles.

Bulldozers on short leashes
Elsewhere, construction may resume as soon as current historic studies are completed. A five-and-a-half-mile section north of Elkins has been started already. WVDOT has said it also hopes to begin work soon on South Branch Mountain between Moorefield and Baker. After a two-year Environmental Assessment, WVDOT rerouted the highway to avoid the Moorefield Battlefield and a historic district at Old Fields.

WVDOT also committed itself to:

(a) provide $1 million over five years to the Town of Wardensville for capital improvements to bolster its economy against the loss of business that Corridor H could cause;
(b) study improvements to eastern US 50, where traffic is much heavier than on WV 55;
(c) release funds for a recreational rail-trail in Randolph, Tucker and Grant Counties;

(d) remove all Corridor H "Build It" signs from highway rights of way;
(e) enforce truck weight limits on US 219, where a conspiracy of non-enforcement has diverted traffic from better-policed routes;
(f) change the Corridor H interchange at Kerens to address safety concerns raised by CHA (WVDOT presented four new alternatives and the community has reached a consensus on the least harmful choice); and,
(g) information-sharing and alternative-dispute resolution procedures.

The lawsuit we filed in 1996 achieved partial success in the Court of Appeals last year. We used that leverage to direct construction toward areas that had more potential traffic and less potential damage. The agreement doesn't preclude our vision of selected improvements to existing roads. In fact, because WVDOT doesn't have the money to build it all, a more sensible Corridor H may happen by default.

Corridor H Alternatives will remain active in its opposition to all unbuilt sections. Those projects can't be challenged on the issues already decided in our lawsuit. However, where new issues come up involving other environmental laws or future actions by the highway department, they may be litigated. And each section will have to justify its own funding.

Time: whose side is it on?
Delay is built into the agreement, from the EIS preparations in the west to the moratorium in the east. Delay is important to us because it allows time for more reasonable decisions on how to spend our limited tax dollars. Polls we have seen over the past two years show support for our position increasing. The agreement should launch us into new efforts to protect the Highlands.

From the beginning of this controversy in the late Sixties, WVDOT has had a single-minded idea on how to improve transportation in this region: Just build Corridor H. Our opposing view has recognized many factors, including environmental, historic, economic, and broader transportation issues. We have worked to see that the whole network of roads would be improved sensitively and selectively. In the same way, while they hope to persuade you that the agreement is simple, we know its 62 pages and attached exhibits add up to a complex document.

The Governor, who is seeking re-election this year, said the settlement removed obstacles to a single four-lane. In fact, the four-lane faces more interruptions than ever. The network approach has survived. Whether it ultimately prevails will depend on our continued efforts with your continued help.

We are grateful to our co-plaintiffs, who signed the agreement with us: West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, Heartwood, Sierra Club WV Chapter, WV Citizen Action Group, WV Environmental Council, Concerned Citizens Coalition, Harrison County ECO, Downstream Alliance, Resource Alliance, Student Environmental Network, Cedar Creek Battlefield Foundation, Northern Shenandoah Valley Audubon Society, and Reynolds Estates Landowners.

CHANGES AT CHA
Anticipating the different conditions we would face after the settlement, as well as opportunities for transportation activists statewide, Bonni McKeown resigned from CHA's board in November. CHA's new president is Hugh Rogers, and our secretary is Pam Moe-Merritt. Terry Miller stays as our treasurer.

Bonni has become president of a new group, Stewards of the Potomac Highlands. She remains available to help Corridor H opponents organize in the eastern counties and in Virginia. For more information, contact her at (304) 874-3887 or by e-mail at barrelhbonni@hotmail.com.

CHA will continue to monitor and enforce the settlement agreement all the way from Elkins to Virginia. There is still work to be done on historic-resource studies: urging the Keeper of the National Register to designate protected sites, such as the Blackwater Industrial Complex; assessing the impacts a new highway would have; and demanding that those impacts be avoided, not "mitigated." We have preserved our right to sue, if necessary, over the Corridor's threats to specific sites such as Greenland Gap and the nearby community of Scherr.

But the biggest job we face is the EIS process for areas in and near the Monongahela National Forest. There, the agreement effectively sets the clock back to 1992, when the last EIS began. As we did before, CHA will reach out for partners. We'll need experts on subjects from archaeology to hydrology to zoology, and we'll need the insights of many more people who live in or visit the area, who know its value and want to save it.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT, SECTION BY SECTION

Elkins to Kerens:
This 5.5-mile section of Corridor H north of Elkins, paralleling US 219, where traffic is fairly heavy, will be built. Work had already begun on a 3.5-mile bypass around Elkins that would connect U. S. 33 West with U.S. 219 North, and contracts were let to extend the bypass north to Kerens. There, the Corridor will end for the foreseeable future. WVDOT agreed to redesign the terminal intersection at Kerens after CHA, local residents, and fire and rescue squad leaders pointed out safety problems in the original plan.

Kerens to Parsons:
In this 13.5-mile section through the Monongahela National Forest, WVDOT must start all over. Highway officials agreed to study new alignments that would avoid Corricks Ford Battlefield by staying out of the valley of the Shavers Fork River. The environmental impact studies will take two years or more and will require full public participation. WVDOT's new route would cross WV 72 north of Parsons, but how it would get there is uncertain.

Parsons to Davis:
A 9-mile section paralleling US 219 and WV 32 will also be delayed at least two years for a new environmental study. WVDOT has agreed to stay out of the scenic Blackwater Canyon. It will completely avoid the WV Central & Pittsburgh railroad grade and the historic Blackwater Industrial Complex, which includes the communities of Douglas, Coketon, and Thomas. The towns of Davis and Thomas, and a citizens advisory committee consisting of local government, business, tourist and environmental representatives will have input in the alignment decision. Funds for the rail-trail through Randolph, Tucker, and Grant counties will be released. Additionally, WVDOT has agreed to avoid the headwaters of Big Run Bog, a National Natural Landmark on Backbone Mountain between Parsons and Thomas.

Davis to Bismarck:
A 16.5-mile section of Corridor H, which would duplicate a lightly-traveled, straight and level stretch of WV 93, is not needed but may be built anyway. Final design is expected to begin this summer. Right-of-way taking and construction would follow if WVDOT still has Corridor H money burning a hole in its pocket.

Bismarck to Forman:
In this 9.5-mile section, there could be another realignment around Greenland Gap, a nature preserve and Civil War battle site. Needed here are improvements to WV 42 and 93 on Four Mile Mountain; not needed is an entirely new highway corridor east of WV 93.

Forman to Moorefield:
This 16-mile section faces no current legal obstacles. WVDOT has agreed to realign the corridor south of the Middle South Branch Valley (Old Fields) Historic District in Hardy County. However, Corridor H is not popular with northern Grant County residents. The lightly-settled farm and forest country, centered on Patterson Creek Mountain, is full of karst features such as springs and limestone caves. A proposed 200-acre quarry west of Moorefield would disrupt local wells and springs to dig up limestone for Corridor H. In Petersburg, some merchants oppose the loss of business the highway is likely to cause. Final design and right-of-way taking could begin this summer and contracts could be bid some time in 2001. But a battle could develop here.

Moorefield to Baker over South Branch Mountain:
WVDOT has given this 14 mile-portion of Corridor H high priority for construction this summer. The Record of Decision (ROD) was issued on April 3 and construction began in the first week of June.

Baker to west of Wardensville:
Construction on this 7-mile section along the scenic Lost River is not blocked by the agreement. No ROD has been issued and not all right-of-way has been taken. CHA has filed protests with the Advisory Council on Historic Places over WVDOT's failure to protect the historic Baughman House and Hanging Rock at McCauley. Traffic splits three ways at Baker--north to US 50, south on WV 259, and east on WV 55—so this section is not heavily traveled. Corridor H opponents say passing lanes and widened shoulders would improve safety and ease of travel. Contact Stewards of the Potomac Highlands for more on this imminent threat.

Wardensville to the Virginia line:
The agreement bars construction on this 5.5-mile stretch for 20 years, unless (a) Virginia reverses its decision not to connect Corridor H to I-81, or (b) Congress enacts a sunset date for funding the entire Appalachian Corridor system, or (c) traffic increases dramatically to Level of Service "E" on that section of WV 55. For that exception, the level of service must be defined by an independent engineer agreed to by CHA and WVDOT. Meanwhile, property may be acquired only in "protective" and "hardship" cases.

The Town of Wardensville will receive $1 million over five years to help the downtown business district fight the potential effects of being bypassed if Corridor H is built.

Route 50:
This year, WVDOT will study the necessary improvements on US 50 from the Keyser area east, and will publicize its findings and plans. Since that highway carries much more traffic than the roads to be paralleled by

Corridor H, it is an obvious rival for the "matching" money the state plans to spend.

Virginia:
The 20-year delay between Wardensville and the state line should relieve Virginians. Delays in the western end of Corridor H will also discourage through traffic from using scenic Route 55. But as Virginia native Thomas Jefferson wrote, "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." Keep an eye on state legislators and Congress members who may want to please vested interests such as the chicken industry by building the 14 miles to I-81. Before that could happen, a full environmental impact statement would have to be done for Virgina and the public would have input, including the possibility of further lawsuits.

We hope you will stay with us as the battle focuses on the specific sections we live in and love.

NOT THEIR DEAL

 

Build-it forces had been told that the agreement was a triumph by Gov. Cecil Underwood, but their reaction was muted when details were announced on Feb. 7. CHA's declaration that "Corridor H as a single project is dead" led the news reports. When a letter to the Parsons Advocate mocked "Quarter H," the editor agreed: "It may never be more than a quarter completed." The pro-road Moorefield Examiner lamented, "If all goes well there is the slightest possibility that we will be driving on portions of Corridor H by the year 2003. Of course, that depends on the judge? on the final historic studies? on efforts by other anti-road groupies? on right-of-way acquisition? on federal highway and ARC money being available? the weather? the economy? and if we're holding our mouth correctly." Corridor H supporters had to concede that it's not a done deal.

 

WHAT’S IN STORE FOR OUR SPECIAL PLACES

Big Run Bog: This beautiful highland bog, a National Natural Landmark in the Monongahela National Forest, is in the Parsons to Davis section, which faces re-study under the agreement. WVDOH officials have promised to avoid the bog’s entire watershed. Corridor H Alternatives leaders will hold them to that promise.

Monongahela National Forest: From spruce-lined 4500-foot mountaintops to lush river valleys, the "Mon" is one of the wildest remaining places in the East, yet it is within 250 miles of a third of the U.S. population. Portions of the forest lie in the sections from Kerens to Parsons and Parsons to Davis that are being studied for realignments. Concerned citizens and protectors of the forest had better get involved well before the public comment period, which could be two years away.

Blackwater Canyon and its historic industrial complex, including "beehive" coke ovens, historic buildings and the railroad grade and associated structures, are in the Parsons to Davis section that will be re-studied under the agreement. Recently, Senator Robert C. Byrd agreed to recommend consideration of Blackwater Canyon as a national park.

Lost River-Hanging Rock: This scenic area between Baker and Wardensville in eastern Hardy County, partly in the George Washington National Forest, faces an immediate threat from Corridor H. Issues of historic houses, caves, and endangered species should be protested by citizens there with the support of sympathetic visitors.

Historic Main Streets: Small historic towns, with storefronts next to the sidewalk, are great places to shop, hold community activities and talk with neighbors. Four-lane highways such as Corridor H have destroyed small towns all over the country by taking traffic away from Main Street and encouraging strip-malls and out of town retailers, accessible by automobile only.

Corridor H would have cut between the twinned towns of Davis and Thomas. The agreement provides for their town councils’ input into a realignment around them. Elsewhere, the new route south of the Moorefield battlefield pushes the Corridor closer to town, which will discourage sprawl development farther away. In Wardensville, a 20-year delay plus a grant of $1 million in streetscape and other capital improvements should give this town a chance to develop its tourist charm and practical commerce for neighbors and visitors.

Wherever you live, buy locally.

 

Civil War Battlefields: West Virginia was born of the Civil War, but our state's history has often been ignored or destroyed. The Highlands area, along the hard-fought border, is home to several little-known but significant battlefields. Three are in the path of Corridor H. Here's where they stand in the wake of the court agreement:

A Victory at Moorefield. One of West Virginia's earliest colonial settlements, Old Fields had been farmed by Native Americans long before a plantation economy developed in the late 1700s. An August 1864 Union raid here had a "devastating effect" on Confederate Gen. Jubal Early's cavalry. The agreement between CHA and WVDOT rerouted Corridor H away from the South Branch Valley Historic District, pushing it out of the historic farmlands and closer to town. The route will be a full mile or more from the National Register boundary of the Moorefield Battlefield.

A Realignment at Corricks Ford. In July 1861, in the narrow Shavers Fork valley, the Union gained control of western Virginia. Confederate Gen. Garnett was the first general officer killed in the Civil War. Union Gen. McClellan used this victory to advance his career. The valley's small farms and steep forest still look much the way they did then. The Shavers Fork is eligible for Wild and Scenic River designation, and above it, within sight of the original alignment, lies Otter Creek Wilderness. Corridor H Alternatives established the significance of this site, forced WVDOT to move the highway out of the battlefield, and finally secured a realignment study that would protect the entire Shavers Fork valley.

A Struggle at Greenland Gap. The 800-foot gap in New Creek Mountain has become a candidate for Natural National Landmark status. In 1974, descendants of the Burt family donated 250 acres to The Nature Conservancy, and they manage the remaining 3,000 acres as a nature preserve. Together with the local community, they are making the case for WVDOT to move the alignment. The Gap has historical significance as well: by confining Confederate soldiers to a narrow formation, it enabled a small band of the Union’s Irish Brigade to frustrate Gen. Grumble Jones' expedition to destroy a crucial railroad bridge at Rowlesburg. Recent historical and archaeological research has shown that the 1862 battle occurred at the Gap’s west entrance, where the "preferred alignment" for Corridor H has been drawn. This information will be presented to the Keeper of the National Register.

WHO WILL KEEP UP THE FIGHT? YOU'RE INVITED!

The Corridor H battle is part of a continuing tug of war over the future of "Wild and Wonderful" West Virginia. Corridor H supporters see the immediate jobs building the road, and beyond that vague possibilities of economic development. Corridor H opponents see the highway as another means for plunder of the state's forests and minerals and an invitation to developers who are heedless of their effect on the fragile land and historic setting. West Virginia's wildness and history is our future. If we preserve our land and communities, we will attract businesses that will take pride in our area and not destroy it. As a practical matter, new business will depend more on the available fiber optic cable than on the uncertain promise of an overbuilt road.

We have delayed Corridor H into a new millenium. Now we invite you to join the next stage of the campaign. In West Virginia, CHA began as a coalition of regional groups: H-No in Hardy County, Down the Road Highway Alternatives in Randolph and Tucker Counties, Citizens Against Scheme E in Grant and Mineral Counties. The united effort served us well in the fight against the original project—in the agencies, in the Congress, and in the courts. Since the settlement agreement divided Corridor H into sections, we have concentrated our forces in the east and the west.

Corridor H Alternatives will continue to monitor compliance with the agreement from Elkins to the Virginia line, but its day-to-day efforts are likely to focus on the EIS process in Randolph and Tucker Counties.

With your help, we will make sure the environmental study is honest and thorough. CHA is based in Kerens and Elkins

Stewards of the Potomac Highlands, based in Wardensville, will advise Corridor H opponents in the eastern section: Grant and Hardy, the surrounding counties of Hampshire, Mineral and Pendleton, and Virginia.

Both groups will continue to fight the waste of taxpayers’ money on the destructive boondoggle that was named 1999's No. 1 "Road to Ruin" by the Green Scissors Coalition of taxpayer, good government, and environmental groups. Please contribute to one or both, depending on your area of concern.

Remember, even a dead rattlesnake can bite by reflex action. Don’t let it happen to you—or a place that is special to you!

YES! CORRIDOR H AS A 100-MILE PROJECT IS A DEAD RATTLESNAKE! I’LL FIGHT TO KEEP IT FROM BITING!

Here’s my contribution of ___ $50 ___ $35 ___ $100 ___ $250 ___ Other

Name__________________________________________________

Phone _____________ Fax ___________

Mailing Address________________________________________________

City_____________________________________State__________ ZIP___________

Email address, other info:________________________________________________

Concerns about Corridor H:________________________________________________

What town, county, river, mountain, etc. do you know best? ______________________

If your primary concern is Tucker and Randolph Counties, the Mon Forest, and enforcing the settlement agreement, please donate to CHA, P.O. Box 11, Kerens WV 26276.

For a donation of $ ___ or more, CHA will send you a copy of W. Hunter Lesser’s book, Battle of Corricks Ford: Confederate Disaster and Loss of a Leader.

 

If your primary concern is in Grant, Hardy, Hampshire, Mineral and Pendleton Counties or Virginia, mail your donation to Stewards of the Potomac Highlands, P.O. Box 455, Wardensville, WV 26851.
For a donation of $35 or more, the Stewards will send you a copy of Stephen G. Smith's history of the Battle of Moorefield.

___________________________________________________________________

Contact Information:

Corridor H Alternatives (CHA): Hugh Rogers, P.O. Box 11, Kerens WV 26276; 304-637-4082; e-mail: rogers@wvhighlands.org; web site: www.wvhighlands.org/CorridorH

Stewards of the Potomac Highlands: Bonni McKeown, P.O. Box 455,
Wardensville WV 26851; 304-874-3887; e-mail: barrelhbonni@hotmail.com.