Editorial: The Golden Egg

THE REGISTER-HERALD (BECKLEY, W.V.)

March 24, 2008 09:56 am

— Editorial: The Golden Egg
We’re still searching

Opinion: The Register-Herald, Beckley, W.Va.

Spring’s first holiday weekend brings with it an affirmation of the growing problems with our area roads.
In Saturday’s newspaper, there was a picture of a traffic snarl along Eisenhower Drive. On a clear day, indeed, you could see vehicles creeping through the traffic for what seemed like forever.
While the situation is exacerbated when school is in recess and during traditional high-vehicle-volume holiday periods, it still remains a daily headache.
Commerce is suffering, blood pressures are rising and patience behind the wheel quickly deteriorates.
So here we are again, searching for the Golden Egg known as adequate and safe highway access. With it comes the yellow brick road leading to new development projects.
It has to be a central issue in this year’s election of our local, state and federal officials who are asking us to vote for them to be our voice in Charleston and Washington. We need their assurances that they will place it at the top of their list of priorities.
Recession, stagflation, rising unemployment figures — we’re reading and hearing about it all the time now. All the more reason for us to keep pushing the agenda for upgraded and new transportation infrastructure.
We sit at the crossroads of two interstate highways, have the best airport site in the state, are home to a region full of quality higher education institutions and host three major hospitals.
With all these pieces in place, the only part lacking is feeder roads capable of handling the expansion. We can see it, but can’t quite grasp it without these critical connectors.
Even with an uncertain national economy, our chance to prosper is again here. We mustn’t let it pass us by as it has in times past.