Welch prepares connector to link Coalfields Expressway by 2027

Excavation work was expected to begin soon on a new connector route in Welch that will allow motorists to enter the Coalfields Expressway corridor in the fall of 2027, county and state officials said Jan. 8. The connector is planned adjacent to Welch Community Hospital and marks the next phase of a multi-year push to build a four-lane highway through McDowell County.

The five-mile section of the Coalfields Expressway near Welch began construction in 2022. When the current stretch is finished it will be the first four-lane highway opened in McDowell County’s history, a milestone locals have long awaited. “There is no four-lane here,” Welch Mayor Harold McBride said. “That will be the first one opened up. Very exciting to me. Very exciting. It’s just one step closer. You know Rome wasn’t built in a day. We just have to stop being negative. We are gaining everyday. We are going to be absolutely fantastic.”

McBride said the connector route will run behind the hospital and near the former McDowell County Board of Education offices, which were moved to Tom’s Mountain near Mount View High School to clear the corridor for construction. He said work on the connector road was ready to begin. “They are getting ready to do it,” McBride said. “I am starting to get excited. We are very close. Little by little we are getting there.”

State officials said paving on the main portions of the proposed roadway is scheduled to begin throughout 2026. “The project is underway and will begin to be paved on the main portion of the proposed roadway throughout 2026,” Powell said. Powell also cautioned that a gas line relocation has delayed bridge work at the WV Route 16 end of the project; that bridge, across Indian Creek, will begin once the main gas line is moved, and it is the section that will connect McDowell with neighboring Wyoming County. Utility crews have removed some power lines in the area, but Appalachian Power said that work was unrelated to the Coalfields Expressway project.

The nearly $150 million project will extend from the area near Welch Community Hospital to the Wyoming County line. The full Coalfields Expressway is intended to create a new four-lane corridor through southern West Virginia toward Pineville and Beckley and onward into Virginia counties including Buchanan, Dickenson and Wise. Work on the Coalfields Expressway dates back to 2001, when the late U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd broke ground on an earlier, unpaved section; the current four-lane construction began in 2022.

Local impact will be practical and symbolic: faster emergency response times, easier freight movement for local businesses, and increased access that could attract jobs and visitors. There will also be temporary disturbances—detours, construction traffic and utility relocations—that residents near the hospital and former board office should expect as crews move equipment onto the site.

The takeaway? This is a long game for McDowell County: prepare for short-term disruption, but also for a rare, tangible change in regional connectivity that could open doors for commerce and services. Our two cents? Keep an eye on detour notices, plan extra time for trips near the hospital, and think about how better roads might help your business or family in the years ahead.