LYBURN — Executive Director Jeff Lusk gave members of the Hatfield-McCoy Regional Recreation Authority Board of Directors a run down on current projects.

Lusk said Logan Economic Development Authority Director Rocky Adkins had been given copies of maps for a proposed connector to the Fountain Place Plaza. Lusk said the new route will start near Taco Bell and go up to the Fountain Place Mall. Mapping and licensing agreements for the proposed project have not been signed yet.

Originally, the proposed route was supposed to come out in the West Logan area and lead to a staging area behind the lodge at the park, but the project was revised several times.

Senate President Earl Ray Tomblin had initially approached the authority about putting in a trail access pathway that would lead outside the park to a location near the new convention center and lodge at Chief Logan State Park.

When the original routes didn't pan out, Trails Authority Deputy Director John Fekete looked at making a route from the Fountain Place Mall to the Logan connector.

Lusk said other projects are moving forward as well, including the proposed trail system for Wayne County.

"They asked us to make that one for full-size vehicles like Hummers and SUVs," Lusk told board members, explaining the actual proposal itself can be tweaked for future use as a possible pilot proposal for other projects. "It's with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers now."

Lusk said mapping for the proposed Harts trail project is supposed to start soon and asked George Poole to discuss the proposed tunnel and access path in the Interstate 73 project near Matewan.

"It looks like it will be bid out in June and the tunnel itself will be complete in July," Poole said. "We have identified a few landowners and gotten it mapped and are waiting for licensing agreements to be signed."

More miles of trails are planned for Matewan, Lusk said, including 20-30 miles of trail between Matewan and the tunnel which should bring that loop up to 120 miles total. It will also receive some loops back into the town of Matewan itself.

Lusk said more ATV trails will be added to Buffalo Creek by June 1.

"They are in their working now," Lusk said. "They won't leave until it is finished."

More bike trails are planned for Pinnacle Creek, but licensing agreements for that project need to be tweaked. Construction of a UTV park in Boone County at the current Little Coal River site is complete and signs have to be installed before it is ready. When trail managers realized it was not being utilized as heavily as other, more difficult trails, the authority decided to change it and make it Hatfield-McCoy's first UTV park. Another trail system for ATVs and motorcycles will be build for Boone County.

"We have to increase the traffic there," Lusk said.

Lusk addressed one issue where the authority may have to backtrack. Last year the board voted that because it came online later, the Mercer County Trail project would have to wait until the last two trail projects were completed. However, since that time, progress has been made in Mercer County while unexpected delays popped up elsewhere.

"We have three projects which are all coming to a head soon in Mercer, Wayne and Lincoln County," Lusk said. "In the next 18 months it should all be done. But its beginning to look like the Mercer County project could be completed first because there is not as much work that has to be done there. We may have to redo that earlier decision the board made to keep from holding that project back."

Lusk said he believes if the Mercer Project was ready to go and be completed quickly the Authority should try to get it done.

Board member Andy Dillon agreed, noting that in the past board members had voted to make Mercer go last, after the original counties systems had come on line, but at that time nobody realized how easy the Mercer project would be, or how hard dealing with the US Army Corps of Engineers would turn out.

"I don't think we should hold Mercer County back because the Corps is dragging their feet," Board member Mike Goode said.

Board President Art Kirkendoll said the board needed to be prepared to rescind its earlier decision by the next board meeting and that members had to look at what was best for the Authority first and foremost and not think in terms of their own member county first when making decisions for the HMRRA board of directors.

"It's just common sense to not hold Mercer County hostage," Kirkendoll said.

Lusk said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers could possibly delay the Wayne County for many months, if not years. Lusk said the Twin Falls connector is not picked out yet and that the Division of Natural Resources will have to pick out the parking lot where ATVs will have a staging area.

"It is up to them, not us," Lusk said.

Senator Richard Browning said he didn't feel it would be appropriate to use state dollars to build another parking lot at a place that already had one.

Lusk said the Keystone Connector needed a city ordinance to be passed to move onto the next step in development.