West Virginia community sees road completion as key to keeping up with growth

RANSON, W.Va. (DC News Now) — Folks in west Virginia’s eastern panhandle hope the new year will bring ways to manage all their growth.

Ranson, just outside of Charles Town, was incorporated in Jefferson County in 1910. It has seen an explosion of new residents who want new homes and new businesses, and they want roads to take them there.

“When they first brought in Home Depot you could see that more businesses would follow,” said Helen Hamill, who has been a Ranson resident since 1952.

The town is supported by a thoroughbred race track and the new giant Rockwool manufacturing plant, maker of home insulation products.

“It took 112 years to build this road,” said Mayor Richard “Duke” Pierson but it is finally done — a convenient connection to the Route 9 bypass.

It didn’t help that a contractor on the road-building project went bankrupt while it was under construction. Federal dollars from West Virginia U.S. Senators Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito helped keep the project on track.

“We need this road,” says Pierson. “The President’s Pointe housing project will add at least 1,500 more residents.”    

West Virginia University Hospital is also planning an expansion in Ranson, says the mayor.

Looking back on her 70 years in the town, Helen Hamill said she is hopeful the growth will continue to be positive in the city. Mayor Pierson is grateful for the large federal grant awarded to the project during the Obama administration.