CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A road in Charleston is back open nearly two years after a hillside at Yeager Airport’s overrun area collapsed onto part of the road, which destroyed a church and damaged several homes.
“I just drove it this morning,” Mike Plante, Yeager spokesman told MetroNews Monday. “It’s in very good shape. It’s wide enough. It’s two lanes.”
State Department of Transportation crews reopened Keystone Drive late Saturday. Crews began laying gravel on the road on Friday.
“This day has been a long time coming,” said Terry Sayre, Yeager executive director, in a news release. “I’d like to offer a special word of thanks to Kent Carper and the Kanawha County Commission for their help and support in this difficult time. I would also like to thank Governor Jim Justice and the Department of Transportation for moving so swiftly to re-open Keystone Drive.”
It took close to two years and cost nearly $5 million to remove the more than 550,000 cubic yard of debris off the road, Plante said.
“We have seen progress — slow but steady progress,” Plante said. “We’re confident that we’ll reach an agreement that allows Yeager to move forward and have the resources to make itself whole from what we’ve spent thus far on the recovery and stabilization efforts.”
Yeager has been tied up in litigation against a number of defendants connected to the construction of the airport’s EMASS system on the runway extension since the slope failure on March 12, 2015.
Since then, airport officials have been following an emergency plan for residents in the Keystone and Barlow Drive communities in case of potential flooding on the Elk River.
“Having the road open now means that we don’t have to worry about that anymore and people can get where they need to go regardless of the condition of the Elk River,” Plante said.
Crews will begin paving Keystone Drive in the spring or summer.
Plans to rebuild the hillside and get a runway extension project going will be discussed more in the coming months.