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A proposal to use private dollars on state road
projects will face the legislature next
week, but the roadblocks will likely be the same as
last year.
The highway improvement change would allow private developers
to pool resources, including state and federal
highway funds, for projects the state can't
afford on its own, and the roads would use tolls to
repay developers.
Twenty-six other states allow similar private
funding. House Fianance Chairman Harold Michael said Virginia and South
Carolina have put their funds with private
developers and lost the ability to maintain
public roads.
The proposal would create a commission headed by the
transportation secretary to review the projects.
The project would make possible toll roads that could be built over the next
five years, including expansions of state Routes 2, 35 and 522, as well as
portions of the King Coal Highway between Beckley and the Kentucky
border.
The L-K Parkway or the longtime proposed Blue-Gray upgrade of U. S. 33 between the Ohio River
through Jackson, Roane, Calhoun and Gilmer, have yet to make any priority list.
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