Got this release from TLine. Can someone please explain what they mean by:

"The highway is expected to open the base of Scherr Mountain, some 30 miles from Timberline, before the start of the 2009-2010 ski season."

Currently we get off in Moorefield so wondering is it going to soot all the way to Scherr????

Timberline Resort Press Kit of Winter 2009 and 2010

Real Snow Country - High Altitude Skiing at Wet Virginia's Eastern Continental Divide
Nestled in the highest valley east of the Rockies, in a picturesque region of West Virginia's Allegheny Mountains, lies a high altitude ski area which has become known for its extended season of snow cover. In its position at the Eastern Continental Divide and with an elevation of over 4,200 feet, Timberline Four Seasons Resort receives 150-190 inches of snowfall annually on Timberline's Herz Mountain. Each year Timberline ski area has significantly increased its snowmaking capacity by upgrading its current technology and adding new. This technology combined with the resort's natural geographic elements allows delivery of large volumes of high quality snow to Timberline's 100 acres of skiable terrain. The capacity for good quality and volumes of snow has attracted the attention of the ski industry and its visitors who know Timberline as "Real Snow Country&rdquo ;. The opening date at the resort's ski area is scheduled for December 10th, 2009.

Recently the resort has announced the opening of its new slopeside hotel. According to General Manager Tom Blanzy, the new Timberline Resort Hotel and Suites will serve a pressing need at the resort with slopeside accommodations and conference space. Guests will be able to choose from a selection of standard rooms sleeping four to six, private slopeside balcony, jet-style tubs or family suites sleeping eight. The upper floors of the three story structure will have a spectacular view of the 1,000 foot vertical slopes of Herz Mountain and the skiers just outside their balcony on Winterset Trail. The hotel is conveniently located at the base of the mountain and within walking distance of the main lodge. The main lodge offers guests dining at our Fireside Grill and live entertainment every weekend at Timber's Pub. http://www.timberlineresort.com
At Timberline, skiers can experience big mountain skiing, snowboarding, tele-marking and cross-country skiing. The mountain has a consistent 1,000 foot vertical and all major trails descend the full vertical distance. Timberline is also known for Salamander Run, the South's longest ski trail and the longest ski trail in the East, complete with snowmaking along its entire length. The resort has four ski lifts including two triple lifts, a beginner's lift and a new surface lift. The surface lift is dedicated to serve one of the two snow terrain parks. Timberline's 37 slopes and trails are evenly divided among easiest, intermediate and expert runs.
Interest in the Timberline area has recently been stimulated by the increasing pace of construction of Corridor H, a super highway which will soon link the major metropolitan areas of Northern Virginia and Southern Maryland, as well as the neighboring states to the west, directly into the greater Timberline area. This highway has already been completed to Ohio in the west and currently has already spanned the most rugged mountainous area between Timberline area and Northern Virginia. The new highway connects into the proximity of Route 66, the major western exit from Northern Virginia and provides access to interstates 81 and 64. The highway is expected to open the base of Scherr Mountain, some 30 miles from Timberline, before the start of the 2009-2010 ski season. The significant effect of Corridor H on the Timberline area was noted recently in an editorial in the New York Times. This article singled out the region for its reputation as a year-round resort facility and for its excellence in winter sports activities. The article importantly stressed the growth and potential of the Timberline area real estate values.

Timberline has recently received a number of acclaims for its consistent, spirited growth and its performance as an Eastern high altitude mountain resort. This recognition in regional, state and national publications is a reflection of the quality of its amenities including its snow-making capabilities and the increasing popularity of the ski area.

Timberline has been named the best ski area in the coveted "Best in Region" award for the past five consecutive years by a poll of readers of the largest regional newspaper of North Central West Virginia. The popularity of the resort has also been expressed in another statewide poll in which Timberline was recently voted, "Best of the Best Places for Wintertime Sports".

Timberline is dedicated to resort expansion. Construction of the western face of the mountain was begun with Twister, the newest trail, and the current exclusive slope-side community, Winterhaven. All of the first phase of Winterhaven slope-side home sites are sold and the next phase of 18 slope-side lots located on the resort's newer trail, Twister, have completed infrastructure. This phase of development features twelve slope front sites with spectacular views.

The resort will continue to emphasize more snow, lifts, trails and lodging. Plans also include a mid-mountain village high on our mountain overlooking the highest valley east of the Rockies, nestled between western ski trails, complete with lodging, summer and winter amenities and a commercial area within the village. The new Winterhaven development is definitely an integral part of the "Real Snow Country" excitement in the ongoing western slope development.

For more information call 800-766-9464 (800-SNOWING) or visit www.timberlineresort.com


Photograph 1: All of the major ski trails of Timberline's Herz Mountain descend consistently 1,000 feet from the mountain's apex at 4,268 feet elevation. Slope side homes are situated along two-mile long Salamander Run, the South's longest ski trail and along Twister Trail, the resort's newest trail. The current Winterhaven development offering, with recently completed infrastructure, features 18 exclusive slope front home sites at 3,500 feet elevation with a spectacular view of the valley.

Photograph 2: Two recently installed vertical turbine water pumps and the recent addition of seventy new snow guns together with Timberline's high altitude position on the Eastern Continental Divide allows early snow cover. This capacity for snowmaking and the natural snow fall has enabled the resort to remain thoroughly functional throughout major southeastern winter thaws. The combination of 150-190 inches of natural lake effect snow and state of the art snowmaking technology has earned Timberline the reputation of "Real Snow Country".

Photograph 3: Timberline's Four Seasons Ski Lodge at the confluence of the major ski trails in the base area allows full view of passing skiers. The lodge has a reputation for good food, beverages, entertainment, and Appalachian style hospitality.

Photograph 4: The new Timberline Resort Hotel and Suites is located adjacent to the main ski lodge and is a ski-in ski-out facility on Winterset Trail. The upscale hotel has private slope-side balconies, jet-style tubs, large flat screen TV's, free wireless internet and a fitness room. The hotel is at the base area of the ski area adjacent to the ski lodge and the four ski lifts.

Photograph 5: Entertainment complements the food and beverage in Timberline's Fireside Grill and Timber's Pub. The annual Snowy Luau Festival, the area's most popular March event, features a Hawaiian theme and fireworks.

Funny you should mention that--it had me checking the Corridor H website.

I also noticed this:

"the South's longest ski trail and the longest ski trail in the East,"

Brad,
What is the buzz about openning Corridor H to Sherr. I saw an article in the Wash Post a couple months ago, but have heard nothing since.
You are the eyes and ears of DCSki for corridor H. What gives?
The Colonel

This is really interesting that this gets brought up at this very time. I say that because an article in the local newspaper just stated that it wouldn't be until over a year from now before the highway was open.

I believe it was nearly a month ago that Robert C Byrd, mr. senile himself showed up with mostly aids present to do a Bridge Dedication ceremony for the bridge over Moorefield. It was also a ralley to try and get more money for CH. In fact radio stations all over western NOVA have been airing "Just Finish It". Now the reason behind all of this that I discovered was that alot of money had been cut from the budget for Corridor H. Since Byrd is no longer chairman of the appropriations committee less and less money is coming to WV.

For the status of CH, MANY portions of it are NOT finished and are only in the second phase of construction. Which is the creation of and grading down the roadbed itself. Far from actual paving and traffic quality status. So that's why the link to the Timberline article is so confusing. The earliest at the moment I've heard for CH to open is for the 2010-2011 ski season.

I need to start more picture taking and hiking of the highway out towards scherr...

This is very curious. As of Labor Day, the bridge over the mouth of Greenland Gap was nothing more than towers and crossbeams. It is unimagineable to me that that stretch will be open by December. I suppose the highway could be finished up to that location, but that would mean dumping CH traffic onto CR 3 to Scherr, a very narrow and rough road.

I wonder whether the highway instead will be finished to Forman by December, and that WVDOH has made a decision to open it to that point to try to help the case for further funding. I could see Tline management describing that as "the base of Scherr Mtn" since they describe their new building from last season as "deluxe" slopeside lodging.

Grab a mug of coffee/ hot apple cider and read this..

http://sundaygazettemail.com/News/200909200356#

September 20, 2009

After 40 years, Corridor H reaches its halfway point

By Rick Steelhammer
Staff writer

MOOREFIELD, W.Va. -- Despite construction costs that have more than doubled, a construction-halting lawsuit and a barrage of criticism from environmentalists, media pundits and government spending watchdog groups, Appalachian Corridor H has finally made it to the halfway point.

While facing new funding challenges, its backers are confident that strong public and political support for the highway will eventually allow them, or at least their children, to travel the 133-mile freeway through West Virginia's Allegheny Highlands swiftly and safely.


The recent opening of a 7.5-mile stretch of the freeway east of the new South Branch Bridge put Corridor H -- the last, longest and costliest of six Appalachian Highway Development System highways to be built in West Virginia -- past the midpoint point in terms of completed mileage. Sixty-six miles of the corridor are now open to traffic, including a 20-mile stretch from Wardensville to Moorefield in Hardy County, and a 43-mile section from Weston in Lewis County to Kerens in Randolph County. An isolated three-mile segment east of Forman is also complete and open.

Authorized by Congress in 1965, Corridor H's roots extend back to the 1930s. It was then that Benton MacKaye, the wilderness advocate and regional planner credited with creating the Appalachian Trail, mapped out a network of proposed scenic highways designed to bring tourism and economic development to Appalachia.


In the mid-1960s, the newly formed Appalachian Regional Commission borrowed MacKaye's vision, blended in some updated insights, and charted out 13 planned developmental highways across the mountainous, isolated, economically depressed section of America.


Today, the Appalachian Highway Development System, expanded to include 32 four-lane corridors covering 3,090 miles in 13 states, is 86 percent complete. Only the most expensive sections of four-lane through the most challenging terrain still await construction to complete the system.


One of those sections begins just west of the recently completed $31 million bridge carrying Appalachian Corridor H over the South Branch of the Potomac River at Moorefield. Here, heavy equipment is carving a path toward a gap in Patterson Creek Mountain and even higher ridges in the Allegheny Mountains on the way to the Grant County communities of Forman, Scherr and Mount Storm. Freeway construction in such terrain can cost upward of $20 million a mile.


Spending on the 133-mile freeway, authorized by Congress in 1965, was expected to reach about $841 million when construction began. But at its midpoint, the project has already surpassed the $1 billion mark, and at least another $1 billion more will be needed to finish the job, according to Department of Transportation Secretary Paul Mattox.


While construction activity on Corridor H has never been busier than it is now, recent cuts in highway construction funding dollars channeled to the Appalachian Regional Commission have set back Corridor H's projected completion date from 2020 to 2035.


In 1984, the project was put on hold due to funding issues, and not resurrected until 1990. Lawsuits over environmental and historic preservation concerns brought development to a halt again in 1998, but a settlement in 1999 allowed construction to resume on a segment-by-segment basis starting in 2000.


"Building this road has been a trying experience," Senate Finance Chairman Walt Helmick, D-Pocahontas, told a group of Corridor H supporters in Petersburg last week, after recounting delays caused by early routing battles. "We've been talking about it since the '60s, but now it's time to complete it."


Helmick said the fact that the corridor is solidly supported by the governor, the state's congressional delegation and all state senators and delegates in the counties through which it passes will be a major factor in seeing it completed.


"Corridor H is my transportation crusade," Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., said last week, after adding an extra $4.5 million for Corridor H construction to the 2010 transportation appropriations bill. "The people have been waiting for this system for 45 years, which is far too long. Finish it!"


"Corridor H will open up our Mountain State to more robust travel, and as a result, new growth and employment, exciting opportunities for our tourism industry and an overall stronger economy," said Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va.


Byrd and Rockefeller, along with other Appalachian senators, have introduced legislation to reauthorize funding for the Appalachian Development Highway System for an additional five years.


Corridor H, which connects Interstate 79 at Weston to a planned link with Interstate 81 near Strasburg, Va., has been dubbed the "Road to Nowhere" by critics who point to the lack of major cities along the route and object to its multibillion-dollar cost.


It's a road to nowhere only if you consider Cincinnati or Washington, D.C., to be insignificant, according to Guy Land, chief of staff for the Appalachian Regional Commission.


"Corridor H was designed for economic development, not to relieve traffic congestion, although increased traffic will come later," said Land. While Elkins may be the biggest West Virginia city along its route, Corridor H was designed to provide a new four-lane route through West Virginia, connecting the state to Cincinnati in the west and Washington-Baltimore in the east, by linking to existing freeways, he said.


While the midsection of the route remains unbuilt, having a 43-mile stretch open between I-79 at Weston and Kerens, north of Elkins, has already had a marked effect on tourism, bringing an increased number of visitors from Ohio and the Midwest to Randolph County and Canaan Valley. The 20-mile stretch open between Wardensville and Moorefield is also bringing in more people.


"Our northern Virginia visitors have already discovered that section of Corridor H and they are using it," said Bill Smith of the Tucker County Convention and Visitors Bureau. "That new section of highway gets people out of the valleys and up on the ridges, opening up beautiful new vistas of West Virginia. It really compliments the state."


Having the eastern end of the corridor built all the way to Davis, expected to take place in 2017, "will allow us to capture a day-trip market from the Washington-Baltimore area," said Canaan Valley Resort director Dave Bostic. "We're a long way from major cities and travel time for our visitors is our biggest obstacle."


Trimming the travel time from Washington-Baltimore by an hour, as the new road is expected to do, "will make a big difference for us," Bostic said.


Opening the section of Corridor H from Wardensville to Moorefield "has already made a big difference," said Dale Walker of Fort Seybert, president of the West Virginia Poultry Association. In addition to boosting tourist traffic, it has helped area poultry producers reduce transportation costs and improve safety, Walker said.


"Years ago, USA Today rated old Route 55 as one of the 20 deadliest highways in America," said Grant County Bank vice president Gerald Sites of Petersburg. "This new road is a lot safer, and it will help our industries ship their products and get supplies more efficiently. The new highway will enhance our chances of attracting new businesses and stabilize our existing ones."


Currently, construction activity on the corridor is focused on its eastern end, where work is underway on 23 miles of freeway between Moorefield and Bismark in Grant County. Nineteen more miles are in the final design stage, with construction expected to begin next year.


"By the end of next year, Corridor H will be open from Wardensville to Forman in Grant County, and in three more years, it will be open all the way to Mount Storm," according to State Highway Engineer Marvin Murphy.


Murphy said the 15-mile stretch of highway between Kerens and Parsons will probably be the next to last section, since a considerable amount of environmental mitigation is expected as the highway passes through a section of the Monongahela National Forest. The last section expected to open is the 6.5-mile stretch extending eastward from Wardensville to the Virginia line.


Virginia transportation officials currently have no plans to tie into the freeway. But that could change when traffic volume increases on two-lane Virginia roads across the border from Wardensville as Corridor H grows, said Phyllis Cole of the Corridor H Coalition. "We're starting to get support for Corridor H from people in the Winchester area," said Cole.


The road could end up carrying a large number of non-tourism visitors from the Washington, D.C., area into West Virginia, according to Homeland Security Director James Spears.


"If someone sets off a dirty bomb or some other type of terrorist attack, we will need Corridor H as an evacuation route from Washington, D.C., " Spears said. "If just 10 percent of the people in the Washington area decide to evacuate and move west, that's 500,000 to 700,000 people heading toward West Virginia."


The role Corridor H could play in accommodating an evacuation and providing a re-supply pipeline in the event of a terrorist attack could make it eligible for designation as a National Defense Highway, according to Spears. "We need to try to get that designation," he said. "It would give Corridor H the same funding status as an interstate highway."


Dan Hodge, principal economist for HDR Decision Economics of Cambridge, Mass., said a recently completed economic analysis of the entire Appalachian Regional Highway system shows that the road will return $3 to the national economy for every $1 spent on its construction. By 2035, when the entire system is expected to be open, the ARC highways will have a total economic impact of $10 billion a year.


"It's already benefiting existing manufacturers and the tourism industry by improving access to and from the Washington-Baltimore area, reducing shipping costs and improving safety," Hedge said.


"We've already seen the benefits of the completed portions of Corridor H," said Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va. "Those opportunities will only grow with the full completion of the highway. This highway has been held up long enough. Simply put, it's time to see this project completed."

Bawalker.. Do you recognize where this bridge is at?

yada, yada, yada.... talk is cheap. roads are expensive.

I *THINK* those bridges are near the Patterson Creek road area. Actually if I can, I'll take the camera and do a little driving this evening after work to see what I can come across.

kwillg6 - Roads are expensive, and our wallets are draining cause the government is taking that money to build the roads which... technically they have no constitutional authority to build. Just an interesting note.

So, somehow in three years they're still planning to make it up the Allegheny Front to Mount Storm? Improbable time lines aside, I thought the highway is supposed to go up to Bismarck and follow 93 to Davis? And in that case I'm asking if it's to go overtop 93 just north of Canaan Valley and I'm asking where the plant's and mine's trucks are going to be pulling out of. I got to thinking about it because, although it's not very significant, route 93 currently offers a route (for a jeep) to head into more natural end of Canaan Valley without all the townhouses and development.

Just get me to the bottom of Scherr & I'll be a happy driver...If they make it to forman we will still have an 8 mile/14min hop across Greenland gap to get to Scherr..not too bad but when Completed we will have a nicer,straighter Guesstamated 6 min run across...cannot wait for completion..Just Finish it!!!!! (Too late Brad )

Fish, I think it needs to go thru to Davis. 42 up the front is still too scary for the tourists---heck it is even scary for the locals. I dated a girl from Parsons years ago and her dad told me in the winter he would drive over to meet the family at the bottom of the hill and follow them up on over to Parsons. Through the gap and up the hill to Davis is enough to bring the dollars.

2035 completion---unbelievable. When I went to college in Elkins in 80, there was the original road "from nowhere"--"to nowhere" outside of town. We were told that was Corridor H, the savior of the Potomac Highlands and it would be under contruction soon. 2035 will be 55 years since I first heard the H word. Oh well, the section outside of Elkins did provide some nice ice climbing while "blowing-off" classes.