BECKLEY, W.Va. – Gov. Jim Justice and other officials broke ground on a section of the Beckley Z-Way, a $110 million project that will alleviate congestion on U.S. 19 from Shady Spring, through Beaver, and into Beckley.
Paid for through the Roads to Prosperity Program, Raleigh County Commission President, Greg Duckworth, said the community has been talking about the project for years and it is finally becoming a reality.
“This is transformative for our community and beyond,” Duckworth said of the 5.5-mile stretch, and will mean a “brighter, more prosperous future for all of us.”
Jimmy Wriston, WV Secretary of Transportation, said the project has been a long time in coming.
“It has lingered for decades, two and a half decades,” he said, and is a product of Justice’s Roads to Prosperity program, money for which was approved by voters in a 2017 referendum.
“This is a great day for Raleigh County and the City of Beckley,” Wriston said.
Justice said no one thought the referendum would pass, but it did by about 73 percent of the vote.
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