West Virginia daily

Individuals from across Virginia could discuss transportation needs during an April 19 hearing held by state officials. The hearing - on Virginia's draft six-year transportation plan - originated in Richmond and was broadcast to several Virginia Department of Transportation offices.

Locally, the public was asked to make comments at VDOT's Bristol district office.

Twenty-five to 30 people came to the Bristol hearing site, Wise County Administrator Glen "Skip" Skinner estimated Monday. Fifteen people signed up to speak at Bristol, he said. The statewide hearing, which started at 5 p.m., was nearing completion around 8:30 p.m., according to Skinner, one of the last speakers.

The Coalfields Expressway was mentioned by several individuals, according to VDOT Wise Resident Engineer T.G. Branson. The Wise residency covers Wise and Dickenson counties.

Dickenson County Administrator Keith Viers, Dickenson County board of supervisors chairman Paul Buchanan and Charlotte Mullins, that county's industrial development director, discussed the need for the expressway, Branson explained Friday.

Skinner requested a traffic crossover at the Adams Combined School near Pound. Currently, vehicles leaving the Adams school cannot turn left onto U.S. 23 South. Vehicles headed toward Wise must first turn onto U.S. 23 North and travel north until reaching a crossover that lets them make a U-turn.

The traffic crossover would be traditional in the sense that vehicles leaving Adams Combined School could go right onto U.S. 23 North or left onto U.S. 23 South. But the crossover must be wide and long enough to accommodate school buses leaving Adams, Skinner and Branson say.

Completion of U.S. 58 improvements and the need for the Pennington Gap and Big Stone Gap bypasses within the U.S. 58 corridor were mentioned. Work on U.S. 58 continues just east of Pennington Gap and near the old Maloney's store west of Big Stone Gap, according to Branson.

Indian Creek Road resident Charlene Greene requested a sound wall along U.S. 23 in the Glamorgan area, Branson and Skinner said.

Greene lives in a house located down from the four-lane highway. She wants a barrier to muffle sound coming from U.S. 23 and asked Wise County supervisors last month to look into placing a sound wall along U.S. 23 South, from The Applehouse to the traffic light in Glamorgan.

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