ON THE MARK... Crooked Creek Interchange
Commentary
By Mark Hallburn
Publisher
PutnamLIVE.com
For two years we have
been driving by them, or
sitting in stopped traffic next to them.
They are the on and off-ramps to the Crooked Creek / I-64 interchange. They are paved, striped, and ready-to-go. And they sit there unused with concrete dividers blocking drivers from using what we paid for.
Meanwhile thousands of drivers pass them, many from out-of-state, and drive into Kanawha County where they spend millions of dollars a year at businesses next to the Cross Lanes exit or others.
During the past two years, our Clueless Putnam County Commissioners, James H. “Jim” Caruthers, Stephen Andes, and Raymond “Joe” Haynes as well as the quiet Putnam County state delegation have remained silent about the wasted resources.
It’s time to speak up.
Putnam County’s economy is struggling compared to our sister counties. While shoppers and diners flock to Southridge, Cross Lanes, and Barboursville to spend millions of their dollars, there are major vacancies at Liberty Square, empty land next to Home Depot, and more empty acreage in front of Teays Valley Cinemas.
Sure, the Putnam County Development Authority screams with faux pride about a Hurricane Wal-Mart with mostly low-paying jobs, while destroying what was a quiet neighborhood, but declines to tell you about the $650,000 it has blown in legal fees and interest while bringing in a discount store that will devastate many Putnam County small businesses.
One Wally-World isn’t good enough.
Opening the Crooked Creek interchange will bring thousands of drivers off Interstate 64 into Putnam County. It will open up new retail and restaurant locations while freeing up the bottleneck at the Winfield/Teays Valley interchange, which many shoppers avoid because of congestion.
Yet the Crooked Creek ramps sit empty. Which is embarrassing to Putnam County and West Virginia as drivers pass by from Kentucky, Ohio, and neighboring counties. You don’t see closed freeway ramps in Barboursville or Charleston. There freeway ramps are utilized, nearby businesses are built, and officials from those areas laugh at Putnam County.
Now that Putnam County has a real commissioner, Gary Tillis, who understands jobs and growth, PutnamLIVE.com is calling on Tillis to lead the way to put pressure on state officials to open those ramps by February 1st.
After the ramps open, drivers will get off the interchange, businesses will sprout up, money will be spent in Putnam County, and our economy will finally show real growth.
It’s a common-sense issue, and it’s beyond time to make it happen.
Open the Crooked Creek interchange-Now!
