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NPHQ > Awards & Success
Stories > 2006 Make a Difference Award Winners > West Virginia
West Virginia Highway Teams Win National Quality Award
Innovative Partnership Brings Needed Funds to Critical Highway Project
New Orleans, LA/November 14, 2006 – The National Partnership for Highway Quality (NPHQ) has awarded one of its National 2006 “Making a Difference” awards to West Virginia highway teams whose quality innovations promote roads that are completed more quickly, ride better, last longer, reduce congestion, and improve safety. . Entries are judged by a panel of transportation industry leaders who serve on the NPHQ Steering Committee.
The West Virginia’s Division of Highways (WVDOH) captured the Silver Award for its unique partnership with Premium Energy, a coal operator that is defraying some of the construction costs on an 11-mile section of a new 93-mile highway in southern West Virginia.
The King Coal Highway is a planned, four-lane, partially controlled access highway that will run through the heart of one of America’s leading coal-producing regions. Funding for the highway was dubious until Premium Energy approached the Division of Highways with the idea of a public/private partnership. The partnership involved using the excess material from the mountain top coal mining operation to construct the highway fills creating the roadbed. The partnership showed a potential cost savings of millions of dollars, while providing motorists with a new highway years earlier than anticipated.
The estimated capital cost for completing the grade and drain phase of construction for the mainline and access roads, using traditional WVDOH contracting methods, was $290 million. The cost estimate contained in the fully executed agreement between WVDOH and Nicewonder Contracting (a subsidiary of Premium Energy), for the same segment, is estimated between $92 and $115 million.
Besides considerable money savings, the new approach means the project can be completed sooner. The start date for the 11-mile section was accelerated to 2004 from 2009. Currently
the road is under construction. When completed, King Coal Highway will stretch from Williamson to Bluefield, West Virginia, as part of the Interstate 73/74 corridor running through the southern part of the State.
“This unique partnership serves as a potential model for other transportation projects,” said NPHQ Executive Director Bob Templeton. “In an era of scarce highway funding, a variety of public/private partnerships will be needed to finance new highway construction. West Virginia has pioneered the way in introducing a new concept to the mix.”
About NPHQ
The Making a Difference Award program is sponsored by the National Partnership for Highway Quality, which combines public and private highway expertise to deliver quality highways for the safety and mobility of the traveling public. NPHQ members include:
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