BECKLEY — U.S. Rep. Nick J. Rahall announced Friday that the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has awarded $17 million to continue needed upgrades on State Route 10 in Logan County.

“Route 10 from Man to Logan has long been recognized as one of the most dangerous routes in America, putting it near the top of the list of qualifying projects throughout the nation,” said Rahall, who is the vice chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. “Upgrading Route 10 puts our people to work and saves lives.”

This funding from the Department of Transportation was targeted specifically to address severe safety needs nationwide.

“School buses and coal trucks should not have to play chicken on our country’s roadways, but too often that has been the case on Route 10. When U. S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray Lahood called me today, I commended him and his team for their efforts to put people to work and address a dangerous route sorely in need of modernization,” said Rahall.

Rahall met personally with Secretary Lahood to press the case for transportation funding throughout southern West Virginia. The federal Transportation Department received $19 billion in requests for this round of TIGER grants from across the country for a pot of only $600 million.

“As I have urged all parties, we must move ahead expeditiously to craft the multi-year transportation funding bill so that states can plan for the long-term and people can be put to work,” Rahall said. “In addition to other highway needs, I have requested tens of millions more in that bill to construct and extend WV 10 Corridor from existing terminus at Midway Plaza to Stollings Road in Logan County.”

This funding will help support the Dabney Road-Stollings portion of a project to convert 12.8 miles of West Virginia Route 10, a narrow, two-lane road with speeds limited to between 25 and 45 mph, into a four-lane, limited-access, divided highway.

This project connects the small communities of Taplin, Earling, Wilbur, Rita, Neibert, Lyburn, Dabney, McConnell, and Stollings south of Man with the existing four-lane WV Route 10 into Logan.

Regionally, it also provides an important link between Logan and the most southern portions of the state.

"Roadways like Route 10 are essential to families’ safety and our economic future,” Rahall said. “Together with Senators Byrd and Rockefeller, we have obtained almost $110 million for upgrades of WV Route 10.”