Virginia Joins with Coal Firms To Build Coal Region Highway
The Virginia Dept. of Transportation finally has found a new team to build the planned $2.3-billion, 51- mile Coalfield Expressway in the state’s southwest corner, seven months after federal funding was pulled when work did not progress fast enough under previous design-build partner, Kellogg, Brown and Root.
VDOT announced Jan. 19 that it has entered into a Comprehensive Development Agreement with a joint venture between two Virginia-based coal companies to build the highway. KBR was named in 2002 to build the road, but the project lost the special financial backing of the Federal Highway Administration last June because of the delays. In a June 2, 2005, letter to VDOT, FHWA Division Administrator Roberto Fonseca-Martinez noted that the highway would not meet its promised completion date of 2012.