Published: November 03, 2009 12:00 am      

North/south highway advocates heading to Washington

GRANTSVILLE — Mr. Moe is headed to Washington.

David Moe, a key member of a regional organization attempting to secure funding for improvements to U.S. Routes 219 and 220, is expected to be part of a group of stakeholders who travel to the nation’s capital later this month to discuss with federal lawmakers the importance of both projects.

“In building highways, all roads lead to Washington, D.C., and Congress,” Moe said Monday in front of nearly two dozen members of the North/South Appalachian Highway Project Coalition Work Group. The meeting at Penn Alps Restaurant was coordinated by The Greater Cumberland Committee, which is spearheading the re-energized effort to keep both highway upgrades on the front burner.

Moe, along with TGCC Executive Director Colleen Peterson and TGCC members Kim Leonard, Bob Smith, Keith Funkhouser of ATK, Henry Cook of Somerset (Pa.) Trust and Mona Ridder of the Mineral County Development Authority will meet with representatives from West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The mission is simple, Moe said: Convince federal legislators to remove the stumbling block currently in place that is preventing Pennsylvania officials from using toll credits for its share of the U.S. 219 upgrade.

Maryland has its share of funding ready for the Draft Environmental Impact Study. Pennsylvania, however, does not have the funding available. Somerset County Commissioner John Vatavuk said a visit with lawmakers could be worthwhile. He and stakeholders lobbied lawmakers in May 2008 and succeeded in securing approval for a $32 million bond issue.

“We’re still $35 million short,” Vatavuk acknowledged. “Pennsylvania had removed the project from its 12-year plan. We got it back on. We’re hoping to get the other $35 million and get this finished.”

Members also heard from Allen Kukovich, executive director of the Power of 32. The group launched in May and covers a 32-county area largely in Pennsylvania but includes counties in Ohio, West Virginia, and Allegany and Garrett counties in Maryland. Kukovich, a former Pennsylvania lawmaker, said his organization might be able to assist with lobbying federal lawmakers from one area to assist in others — anticipating those favors could later be returned. Peterson said she planned to join the initiative.

Moe said the group will meet with regional lawmakers in the House of Representatives on Jan. 26 and that the North/South Appalachian Highway Project will be a primary discussion point at PACE, a legislative gathering of Mountain Maryland officials in Annapolis in January, as well as Mineral County Day, a two-day effort in Charleston that allows local officials to discuss important issues with their state counterparts in the state capital.

The meeting Monday was the group’s first since September, when Gov. Martin O’Malley announced the restoration of $750,000 for Maryland’s portion of the impact study for the U.S. 220 project. Bids for the bridge over the Potomac River between McCoole and Keyser, W.Va., came in lower than expected. O’Malley directed state transportation officials to reallocate those funds for the highway project. West Virginia already had its funding in place for the study, which could take up to 18 months to complete.

On Friday, transportation officials from Maryland and West Virginia whittled the list of five possible alignments for U.S. 220 to three from five. Ridder said she was reluctant to state which alignment her organization favors for fear of losing support among coalition members.

“We know we want 220 South to be upgraded,” she said. “Just exactly where it goes is less important.”

Ownership of the U.S. 219 project already seems to be taking hold. Vatavuk said he and his fellow commissioners definitely want the realigned U.S. 219 in their jurisdiction.

Kevin Spradlin can be reached at kspradlin@times-news.com.