Robert Miller, executive director of the West Virginia Route 2/Interstate 68 Authority, updates Ohio County commissioners on the status of the proposed highway extension. (Photo by Joselyn King)

WHEELING – The latest idea for extending Interstate 68 into Marshall County includes taking the proposed highway across the Ohio River to Caldwell, then perhaps all the way to Dayton.

Robert Miller, executive director of the West Virginia Route 2/Interstate 68 Authority, updated Ohio County commissioners Tuesday on progress toward what is being called the “I-68 Energy-Manufacturing-AI Corridor.”

Miller, who has been on the job since 2019, expressed frustration that little progress has been made on construction of the highway.

Prior to that time, as Marshall County commissioner, Miller worked with members of the first Trump administration on plans for the highway. The relationship worked well until both he and Trump were out of office.

“As you know, with politics what it is, you work up through the points where you are getting support,” he said. “Then we have a (presidential) election, and you go back down and start back up the ladder again.”

After Trump returned to the White House last year, a meeting with the authority’s team was convened on May 14, 2025, in Washington, D.C.

Miller reports costs and a condensed timeframe for construction were discussed.

“We feel very confident with the president’s current reshoring agenda,” Miller said. “We’re hoping to get back through those doors again.

“Basically, we’re trying to reshore (bring back the businesses of) energy, trying to reshore manufacturing, and then there’s AI. With what we’re sitting on top of with Marcellus and Uttica (shales), we’ve got the energy. We’ve got the raw materials for manufacturing.”

West Virginia is “perfectly placed” for the endeavor, he continued.

The team was also asked by the Trump Administration to work to secure the support of both governors Patrick Morrisey in West Virginia and Mike DeWine in Ohio before any more discussion or work could happen on the proposal, Miller said.

“As anybody in the Legislature will tell you, it’s hard to get through to talk to the governor about anything… so we haven’t had any luck so far along those lines,” Miller said. “I talked to the governor in November, and so far there is no support there. But we’ve got different avenues.”

He noted he has a scheduled meeting with the staff of U.S. Rep. Riley Moore, R-West Virginia, on Friday.

“Hopefully, we will get some progress and try to get through another door,” Miller continued.

The original proposed path for the extension of I-68 has been changed.

Miller explained that under the current configuration, the “I-68 Energy-Manufacturing-AI Corridor” would be built beginning at the I-68’s intersection with I-79 in Morgantown to meet up with W.Va. 2 – not in Moundsville in Marshall County as originally planned – but in Kent.

It would then cross the Ohio River to Clarington and I-77 near Caldwell. From there, the road could eventually move westward to I-75 between Dayton and Middletown, Ohio.

The goal of the proposed highway would be to link up with other highways such as Interstates 90, 80 and 76 in the northeast quadrant of Ohio, setting up a gridwork for transportation in the manufacturing industries, he continued.

“Any place in the grid they are not far from any major highways,” Miller said.

Also during Tuesday’s commission meeting, commissioners passed a motion to temporarily relocate voting Precinct 28 from St. James Lutheran Church at 1409 Chapline St. to the City-County Building at 1500 Chapline St. for the May 12 primary election.

Voting at the City-County Building was previously moved to the church amid concerns about voters having to go through security at the building, and also having to enter the building near the Wheeling Police Station. The station has since been moved from the building.

Commissioners also approved the hiring of two new deputies, Devin Milbert and Mason Parsons.

The commissioners will next meet at 8 a.m. on March 17 at the City-County Building.