What Happened to this $316,000?

From the Charleston Daily Mail, Tuesday, July 11, 2000:

State grant to fund bulk of new I-64 visitors center

GEORGE HOHMANN

DAILY MAIL BUSINESS EDITOR

A new visitors center is planned for Interstate 64 in South Charleston, with the bulk of the funding coming from a state grant.

The South Charleston Convention & Visitors Bureau and the city of South Charleston today expected to receive $316,000 from the state Department of Transportation for the travel and information facility.

The leading site for the center is a triangle-shaped lot off the Montrose Drive exit of I-64. The entrance would be on Kanawha Turnpike.

More than 75,000 vehicles pass the interchange daily, according to Jerry Legg, head of the traffic analysis section of the state Department of Transportation's Planning and Research Division.

"The Montrose Drive exit appears to have the priority but certainly, in West Virginia, property is always at a premium - so I would imagine the Jefferson Road area would be an alternative," South Charleston Mayor Ritchie Robb said this morning.

Sites off the Jefferson Road exit of Interstate 64 that should also be considered include a lot on Jefferson Road, across from McDonald's, and a lot on MacCorkle Avenue, near the Red Roof Inn, Robb said.

The lot off Montrose Drive seems to have the upper hand, Robb said, possibly "because it is viewed as closer to Charleston, and the center may serve as a sort of welcoming point to the state capital. It also might be the priority because the Jefferson Road area, in the past, has experienced some traffic problems. From my perspective, we should keep the Jefferson Road exit open for discussion.

"We'll be looking to find a suitable location that will maximize the benefits of the grant," said Robb, who added that he believes the state will ultimately make the site location decision.

Gov. Cecil Underwood was scheduled to present a check for the center today at the Wingate Inn in SouthCharleston.

Bob Anderson, executive director of the South Charleston Convention & Visitors Bureau, and Larry Green, chairman of the bureau's board of directors, said they hope all of the communities in the area will participate in the staffing and operational funding of the center to promote historical sites and attractions throughout the Kanawha Valley.

"I would like to see it bring additional people into our community - not just to the center itself - but so people will take the time to visit our stores and shop, visit our hotels and restaurants. I hope it will spin off visitors into the rest of the community," Robb said.

Anderson added, "This has been one of our dreams for almost 25 years.

We're thrilled to get this off the ground. It's the largest grant we've ever received. I think it will be great for the whole valley." Green pointed out that the closest visitors' centers are in Huntington and Parkersburg and along the West Virginia Turnpike. "I see Charleston flourishing from this, as well as Dunbar and St. Albans," he said.

Dr. William Crigger, a member of the bureau's board of directors, will serve as chairman of a committee charged with spearheading the project.

"Because of where it will be located, I think this will help Charleston a lot," he said.

Plans call for construction of a building with 2,000 square feet of space. According to a rendering by N Visions Architects, South Charleston, there would be room for 67 parking spaces on the Montrose Drive lot.

Total estimated cost of the project is $395,000. Of the $79,000 in local funds needed, Anderson said his organization has $50,000 "set aside, in the bank, committed to the project. We'll probably ask the city for the rest of the money." An environmental impact study and an archeological study must be done and there must be a public comment period before work can proceed, Anderson said. It will be five or six months before ground is actually broken, he predicted.

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OK, first of all I remember thinking when this story broke that there was no way that a visitors center could ever be built on this piece of land; it just looked too small for a typical interstate rest area. Here's an aerial shot. The yellow question mark is situated on the prospective site:


Since I was so skeptical of the site, I have been watching for the commencement of this project. Bob Anderson is quoted in the article that it would be 5 or 6 months before ground was broken. It's been 8 years. Does anyone know where the money went?

Seriously, someone should look into this.

Happy Birthday, West Virginia!

When I was in third grade I found out that my cousins in Ohio didn't celebrate West Virginia Day.

It seems silly now, but when I was a kid West Virginia Day was a big deal in my community. People were off work and there were special things that happened around town. The radio station would play "My West Virginia Hills" and people would sing along. A nine year old kid thinks the whole world is just like the part of the world immediately around him, so I thought West Virginia Day was something that people all over the country celebrated. It never seemed strange to me that we didn't celebrate Ohio Day, because I'd been to Ohio and it was nothing special to my eyes. I had been taught my whole life that West Virginia was indeed something special and so I thought it was logical that the whole world would pause on June 20th and observe the momentous occasion of its founding.

"We're the most northern southern state," my mother told me, "and the most southern northern state; the most eastern western state and the most western eastern state." Surely that alone was a designation that was worthy of a national holiday, I thought.

And my eyes could see the beauty that was all around me, and in my travels to other states I had never seen anything as wonderful as Cranberry Glades, Blackwater Falls, Canaan Valley, Spruce Knob, Seneca Rocks, Summersville Lake or a dozen other places that I had seen as a young child. I was certain that the state we lived in was a blessed gift to the world and it was worthy to be celebrated.

It was only after I became a young adult that I began to realize that West Virginia was not universally loved and appreciated. At some point I began to realize that people from other places mistook our unique way of speaking for ignorance. They mistook our simple lifestyle for abject poverty. They mistook our preference for staying in West Virginia to find a way to make a living for lack of ambition. And with all of these mistaken presumptions came a negative view of our people and by association, our state.

But I know better, and so do most West Virginians. While some of our own people buy into this fatalistic self-view, I believe that many more of us are quietly counting our blessings that come with living in a place so richly blessed with beautiful natural resources and wonderful people. We grouse about our politicians like people in every state in the union, and we wax nostalgically for the good old days like people do everywhere. But at the end of the day there is no place we'd rather live and that is why we stay.

If people around this country were allowed to see the real West Virginia, I'd bet they all really would celebrate this day.

Insane Balancing Act in South Charleston

A while back I read an article about the innovative construction technique being used on the new I64 bridge from Dunbar to South Charleston. It seems this concrete structure is being poured in place, extending from the piers outward. It has been slow going on the Dunbar side, but the part of the bridge that will cross MacCorkle Avenue is growing by leaps and bounds. It's really begin to start to look scary as both sides of the cantilever have begun to extend past the limits of what looks like common sense. I really hope the engineers have done their math correctly.

Danny Jones Congratulates Special Olympic Athlete?

Or is he twisting his arm in an attempt to collect a $2 user fee?

Gazette photo by Chip Ellis.