Tucker County wants its connections with the outside world to go beyond highways. We are working with them to make smart decisions about how best to expand broadband internet and leverage a broader economic development strategy to make the county a destination.
Tucker County in the mountains of West Virginia has abundant natural beauty and recreational opportunities—assets that can’t be created by consultants or planners. However, the county is geographically and digitally isolated within the northern edge of the Monongahela National Forest. The county lacks rail connections and is far from any interstate highways, in part due to challenging terrain and low population density, but also lacks the digital connections of high-speed internet access for its 7,000 residents. The county wants to improve quality of life and economic prospects through implementing a strategy to bring fast and affordable internet to its residents and businesses while improving physical placemaking to draw people into its downtowns.
The county is partially connected by US Route 48/Corridor H, part of a President Johnson-era highway project from an old federal program to connect communities throughout Appalachia. The eastern portion of the limited-access highway terminates in Davis in eastern Tucker County, but an unfinished gap within Tucker County to the west isn’t scheduled to begin construction until 2031. There’s certainly a valid debate to be had about the cost vs. the benefits of the state continuing to spend on a massively expensive highway project through such sparsely populated areas, but it has certainly helped connect the county, making it more accessible to visitors and freight.
John Robert Smith presenting at the Tucker County Courthouse in Parsons, WV (Image: staff photo)
After analyzing feedback from the workshop, SGA staff made a series of recommendations that will help the county use new high-speed internet access to generate a larger wave of private, place-based reinvestment. It’s vitally important to both create a sense of place to attract people, and then also make broadband investments that can help connect those people to the rest of the world.
To build that sense of place, an inclusive working group to represent the varied interests can help create a shared vision for countywide improvements while a council of county governments would better market the area to visitors and potential future residents. Public investments in amenities for the individual downtowns would entice visitors to stay longer, and spend more money, while complimenting an effort fill in “missing teeth” parcels currently occupied by parking or vacant buildings within downtown areas. Finally, adopting and implementing a Complete Streets program would help make these downtowns great places to safely and conveniently get around on foot or by bike. A complete streets program would help each of the downtowns in Tucker County great places.
Downtown Davis, WV in Tucker County (Image: Jon Dawson, Flickr)
New highways are slow, difficult, and expensive to construct—it’s taken multiple decades and hundreds of millions of dollars to build just 70 miles of US 48/Corridor H to reach eastern Tucker County. In this modern era, expanded highway connections may be less useful for improving lives and creating economic opportunity compared to fast and affordable internet connections and a focus on the places and assets that make a community unique.
By prioritizing fast and affordable internet connections, Tucker County can attract more visitors and future residents who can connect with what Tucker County offers on the inside, and remain connected to commerce and ideas outside the county.
The workshop was funded at no cost to Tucker County through funding provided by USDA’s Rural Community Development Initiative program. Learn more about Smart Growth America’s rural development work.
SGA’s Cool & Connected program
Evening Presentation
Next Steps Memo
6-Month Progress Report