[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 109 (Friday, June 30, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H6682-H6683]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                  WHY CORRIDOR H IS A NATIONAL HIGHWAY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from West Virginia [Mr. Wise] is recognized for 5 minutes.

[[Page H6683]]

  Mr. WISE. Madam Speaker, as the Congress adjourns and shortly Sandy 
and I will get in the car with our two children and begin heading home 
to the western side of West Virginia, about a 7-hour drive away, we are 
going to ask ourselves once again: Why is it that we have to drive 
north to drive so far south? Or why is it that we can take the 
alternate route and drive so far south and then west and then we get to 
go north again? Why is there not a direct route, a direct route called 
Corridor H, a route that has been torn by controversy for many, many 
years but a highway that should be built.
  This is going to begin a series of statements on why Corridor H 
should be built. Today I am going to entitle this, ``Why Corridor H is 
a National Highway.''
  It is not, as some say, a narrow West Virginia road or a State 
interest. It is not just of local concern, nor is it a pork-barrel 
project. Corridor H is a vital project that has been on the books for 
25 years.
  Let's take a look at the map, Madam Speaker. Here we are roughly in 
Washington, DC. I-66 goes out toward the Virginia line and intersects 
with Interstate 81. The logical thing, if you were going to continue 
going to the west, would be to go straight, would it not? That is what 
Corridor H does. But instead our traffic, economic, and tourist and all 
other traffic, is required to go to the north to 68 or down to the 
south to 64 and keep going down.
  Were Corridor H to be completed, and indeed 40 miles of Corridor H, 
4-lane Corridor H is already completed from I-79, 40 miles to Weston, 
to Buckhannon, to Elkins, West Virginia. But were Corridor H, the 100 
and some miles left, to be completed, what you would have is an 
extension of Interstate 66, a major east-west corridor that goes to I-
79 and then permits you to continue going to the west, either down 
Interstate 79 or up and over on Route 50, another 4-lane road.
  What you would have is a straight east-west corridor running all the 
way from the Washington metropolitan area to Ohio, Kentucky and points 
west.
  This is truly a national highway. Indeed, it would also connect, 
Madam Speaker, with the inland port at Front Royal, an increasingly 
commercial development that is showing more success in getting goods to 
the port at Norfolk. But the problem is that if you are trying to bring 
anything from the west to the east, you are confronted by extremely 
mountainous and difficult terrain. Corridor H would end that. It is a 
major economic development corridor as well as a national highway, a 
highway truly of national significance.
  I think it should also be pointed out that some argue that it is too 
expensive or environmentally damaging. What they fail to acknowledge is 
that the four routes that were considered, two running to the south, 
one running to the north and now the route that has been adopted this 
way, that those routes were considered and rejected. Indeed, the least 
expensive route and the one that causes the least environmental 
disruption is the one that has been adopted.
  The two southern routes threaten great environmental problems and 
were the most expensive to construct. So out of consideration and to 
meet the concerns of many who raised these objections, the fourth 
route, the one that is presently proposed, is the one that was adopted.
  Madam Speaker, I would urge this Congress to get on about the 
business of constructing Corridor H and to look at I-66 as it ends at 
Interstate 81 and to recognize the important national significance of 
this road. It does not get any cheaper to build a road. The least 
expensive route has been selected and indeed to provide a major east-
west corridor, Corridor H is the answer.
  Yes, Sandy and I are going to spend 6 to 7 hours driving and we could 
spend far less were Corridor H constructed. It should not be 
constructed for our driving ease. What it ought to be constructed for 
is the economic growth of this entire region, not only West Virginia 
but parts of Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky as well.
  Madam Speaker, I will be revisiting the issue of Corridor H a good 
deal more in the future.


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