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WV Transportation

WV Transportation

WV Transportation

WV Department of Transportation

Project Description

Overall view of the project

The purpose of this project is to implement and mitigate a Department of Defense (DoD) mandated physical security measure that will restrict personnel and vehicular traffic through the National Guard (NG) complex along Coonskin Drive (Kanawha CR 51/2). This project addresses military security issues identified in the 2002 Joint Services Integrated Vulnerability Assessment (JSIVA), 2006 Air Force Vulnerability Assessment Team Report (AFVATR), and the 2009 Air Force Vulnerability Assessment Team Report. A secondary purpose of this project is to provide an emergency entrance and exit from the NG Complex, Kanawha County’s Coonskin Park, and Yeager Airport in case of flash flooding.

Coonskin Drive (Kanawha CR 51/2) is part of the state roadway system. State traffic records indicate it has had up to approximately 2400 vehicles per day travel along its route. It is the only route to and through the NG Complex and into Kanawha County’s Coonskin Park. Both the NG Complex and the Park are located adjacent to Yeager Airport, and there are no alternate routes for accessing these facilities. Historically, flash flooding in the watersheds adjacent to Coonskin Drive and Yeager Airport have closed access to and from the NG Complex, Park and Airport. This flooding has demonstrated a need to establish an emergency entrance and exit route to these facilities so that they can be accessed or evacuated if the primary routes are blocked. 

One of the main Force Protection security measures required by the DoD MINIMUM ANTITERRORISM STANDARDS FOR BUILDINGS (UFC 4-010-01, dated 8 October 2003, updated 22 January 2007) includes maintaining minimum clearances between military facilities and public roadways. This measure is only one of several Force Protection security requirements that have been put in place at military facilities worldwide since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The NG Complex facilities along Coonskin Drive are too close to the public road to meet required minimum clearance distances. Accordingly, the security measures require that access to the Complex be restricted which, in turn, requires that traffic to Coonskin Park be rerouted. The security access restriction will only allow military and civilian personnel who have a valid need and identification to be on the premises. Also, minimal rerouting of the Coonskin Drive traffic is not practical because the NG Complex facilities are on both sides of the road. 

In order to address the Force protection security measures required by DoD MINIMUM ANTITERRORISM STANDARDS FOR BUILDINGS (UFC 4-010-01, dated 8 October 2003, updated 22 January 2007), an Access Control Point (ACP) into the NG Complex must be established along the existing Coonskin Drive. This ACP must be properly configured to adequately restrict access onto a federal military installation which likely involves closing a portion of Coonskin Drive. If the NG Complex would be required to elevate its Force Protection level to Force Protection Condition Delta (as after September 11, 2001), then public access to the Park by Coonskin Drive would be blocked completely until the Force Protection Condition was lowered. 

Because the proposed ACP will eliminate public access through a section of Coonskin Drive, the project also includes, as mitigation, the concurrent construction of a new access route that would permanently provide public access into the Park. It is also imperative that this new access provide an emergency alternate entrance and exit route from the NG Complex and Yeager Airport to allow access during a flash flooding event. 


    In summary, the Coonskin Park Access project consists of:

  1. Closing a section of Coonskin Drive to the public so that an adequate Access Control Point to the NG Complex can be installed to meet Force Protection security requirements; and
  2. Building a new access into the Park that provides unimpeded public access to the Park and an emergency entrance and exit route for the NG Complex and Yeager Airport.

The overall purpose of this project is to address military security issues.

 Proposed Security Gate Locations
Click Map to view Proposed Security Gate Locations

A PDF file describing the project and the proposed land and bridge alternatives is available for download.