Office of the Governor

Gov. Justice celebrates completion of $2.8 million paving project on major roadway connecting Parkersburg and Vienna

9/29/2020

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​PARKERSBURG, WV – Gov. Jim Justice joined leaders with the West Virginia Department of Transportation for an event today to celebrate the completion of a $2.8 million paving project on the main roadway connecting the cities of Parkersburg and Vienna.

“I couldn’t be more proud to be here today,” Gov. Justice said. “When you make improvements to a road that’s connecting two cities and that’s handling that much daily traffic, the benefits are astronomical.”
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West Virginia State Route 14 – also known as Murdoch Avenue in Parkersburg and Grand Central Avenue in Vienna – is a seven-lane roadway, carrying an average of 37,900 vehicles per day.

“This project being completed means that even more goodness is going to come to the Parkersburg and Vienna communities,” Gov. Justice said.

The project, completed by contractor Kelly Paving, included 2.99 miles-worth of paving, spanning from 26th Street in Parkersburg to 28th Street in Vienna. Roadwork began on July 24, 2020, lasting just over two months.

“Our scheduled completion date was officially October 16th, but as you can see, the paving is complete now,” WVDOT Deputy Secretary Jimmy Wriston said. “We’re very proud of this particular project.

“Vienna folks call their portion of the road ‘The Miracle Mile,’ and now it’s truly a miracle because you’ll be able to roll smooth on this thing,” Deputy Secretary Wriston continued. “The surface that was put on the road is called SuperPave. That’s the ‘Cadillac’ of surfaces that’s being used for the people up here. It’ll hold up for years to come.”
Parkersburg Mayor Tom Joyce and Vienna Mayor Randy Rapp joined the Governor and WVDOT leadership for today’s announcement.

“We really appreciate you being here today, Governor. We appreciate this road; it’s a big deal,” Mayor Joyce said. “God bless you – it’s always a pleasure having you here. We appreciate everything you’ve done for the city. Your staff has been great, up and down the board, for the last several months during these tough times, we appreciate everything you’re doing.”
“Governor, I’d also like to say thank you, it’s a big deal,” Mayor Rapp said. “We’re very proud of our Grand Central Avenue. It’s the spot of a $30 million expansion for our Grand Central Mall, which is going to be a game changer for the city.”
“The multiplier effect that the dollars for this project are going to bring to this area is absolutely off the charts,” Gov. Justice said. “It’s a wonderful community. I love the people here with all my soul. I’ve got a lot of great memories of coming to this area for coaching a lot of my basketball teams and I’m very proud that we’re moving this area in a positive direction.

“This pandemic that we’ve been living with has been like a cannonball to the stomach, but we’ve got to keep doing projects like this. Today is the result of a lot of people putting in a lot of licks and keeping after it,” Gov. Justice continued. “We’re going to keep working all across West Virginia.”
The project was funded through annual federal aid dollars provided to WVDOT, with the State covering 20 percent of the cost.

“The money that we needed to be able to do this project was freed up thanks to the Governor’s Roads To Prosperity program,” Deputy Secretary Wriston said. “It’s his vision that’s making projects like this happen all over the state.”

“When we started down this road a few years back, we came up with this idea for Roads To Prosperity,” Gov. Justice said. “In doing so, there were a lot of naysayers that said we would never be able to make it work. But we went to work, we went all across the state letting people know the opportunity they had, and the people spoke: 73 percent of people said ‘Let’s go,’ and lo and behold, days like today are the results.”

Over $1 billion worth of major infrastructure improvement projects, through the Governor’s Roads To Prosperity program, have either been completed to date or are currently underway, with active roadwork taking place in all 55 counties across the state.

Contact Information

Jordan Damron, jordan.l.damron@wv.gov

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