MORGANTOWN — Bob Miller Jr., executive director of the West Virginia Route 2 and Interstate 68 Authority, says the Trump administration has once again expressed interest in extending Interstate 68 west to the Ohio River, and beyond.
Now he just needs to get Charleston fully on board.
That effort has started with a series of resolutions supporting the I-68 Energy Manufacturing Corridor from the 10 member counties represented by the authority.
The Monongalia County Commission became the eighth such body to voice its support earlier this week.
The I-68 extension would add some 73 miles to the interstate between its connection with I-79 in Monongalia County and Route 2 along the Ohio River, at Kent, W.Va. The ultimate goal is to extend I-68 into Ohio, to connect with I-75, between Dayton and Middletown.
The West Virginia portion of the project, currently estimated in the vicinity of $3 billion, has been on the wish list for decades – dating back to before the state legislature officially established the West Virginia Route 2 and Interstate 68 Authority in 1997.
While efforts to upgrade Route 2 from two to four lanes have progressed consistently over the years, the expansion of I-68 has never picked up any real momentum.
That started to change in 2017, when Miller – then a commissioner in Marshall County – began coordinating meetings through representatives of the Trump White House. Over a three-year span, Miller transitioned from a county commissioner to the West Virginia Route 2 and Interstate 68 Authority executive director and began pulling in local experts to sit down with high-ranking officials within the U.S. departments of transportation, commerce and energy to demonstrate the benefits of the extension project.
While those communications were cut off during the Biden administration, Miller met with Christine Glassner, the White House deputy secretary of intergovernmental affairs and special assistant to the president, on May 14.
According to Miller, Glassner indicated there is a willingness to explore the project further if it has the backing of the state.
“They don’t want to step on the governors’ toes, and the governors seem to have other projects they’re more interested in,” Miller said. ‘We’ve got to get Gov. Morrissey and Gov. DeWine to support us, and take them back to the White House to have further talks, or else it just sits here.”
Miller said he left the most recent meeting with much the same feeling he had following meetings with the first Trump administration.
“I’d be coming back from these meetings and just shaking my head. It’s like, this is surreal. I can’t believe that the White House cares what I’m saying – Bob Miller from Marshall County – and I can’t get my own state to take it seriously,” Miller said. “And we’re still pretty much in that same situation.”
Miller said the project has the ear of the White House because it aligns with the administration’s promise to support American energy and manufacturing.
Proponents say the I-68 extension would allow a more efficient utilization of the Shale Crescent USA region comprised of Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania – an area the county resolutions call “the premiere low-cost manufacturing region in the world.”
According to nonprofit Shale Crescent USA, if the three-state region were its own country, it would be the third largest natural gas producing country on the globe.
The nonprofit’s website notes,“The Shale Crescent USA is the only region in the world at scale where a manufacturer can build on top of its energy and feedstock supply and be located in the center of its customers.”
That efficiency, Miller explained, represents about 30% more profitability than any other manufacturing site. He said that number includes the increased labor costs that come with manufacturing in the United States.
The West Virginia Route 2 and Interstate 68 Authority is made up of two representatives from each of the 10 impacted counties – Monongalia, Marion, Brooke, Hancock, Marshall, Ohio, Pleasants, Tyler, Wetzel and Wood.
Monongalia County is represented on the body by Delegate Joe Statler, R-Monongalia, and John Deskins, an associate professor of economics and the director of the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at WVU.
Statler recently told members of the county commission that while there is a renewed push to get the I-68 extension jumpstarted, details are few and far between at this point.
“I can’t report anything to you, basically, as to where it’s at. I wouldn’t make any assumptions of how far along it is or how long it will take for this to go. I think it’s been 40 years to even get to this point,” he said.
One of the major questions is exactly what route the interstate would take if it ultimately moves forward.
“We know right-of-way is always going to be an issue, so I just want to make you aware of that. It will go through some farming communities, no matter the path. That thing has changed over the years. As a matter of fact, at one time it actually went through property that I own. That was a long time ago, with exchanges that would have been out there in the western end. I believe now it’s going to be a more southerly route that will probably go more through Marion County and the Mannington area. I don’t know that for sure, but that’s pretty much the talk.”
