Op-ed: West Virginia’s AI future depends on 7,000 bridges
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When Sen. Shelley Moore Capito toured the site of Baltimore's collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in July, she stood beside a $5.2 billion reminder of what happens when a critical link in America's transportation system disappears.
A cargo ship brought the bridge down in March 2024. Replacing it is expected to take until 2032, with the federal government covering the cost. That means taxpayers across the country -- including West Virginians -- are helping pay to rebuild it.
West Virginia understands why that investment matters. We also understand that every dollar spent on one major project is a dollar that cannot be spent somewhere else.
Sen. Capito, who chairs the Senate committee responsible for writing the nation's highway law, made that point during her visit. "Now the whole country is paying for this bridge," she told reporters. She has also noted that other critical infrastructure projects across the country are competing for the same limited federal dollars.
Few states understand the stakes better than West Virginia.
On Dec. 15, 1967, the Silver Bridge at Point Pleasant collapsed during rush hour, killing 46 people. Investigators traced the failure to a small crack in a single steel eyebar. Congress responded by creating the national bridge inspection program that every state still relies on today.
Nearly six decades later, Mason County is once again at the center of a national infrastructure story -- but this time because of opportunity.
Just north of Point Pleasant, the Monarch Compute Campus is under construction, positioning West Virginia to play a significant role in the rapidly growing artificial intelligence economy. Gov. Patrick Morrisey has said the site has attracted a reported $45 billion investment in future AI infrastructure. Its first phase is expected to open early next year, with about 700 people already hard at work.
But those workers, contractors, truck drivers and suppliers do not arrive at an AI data center through the cloud.
They get there on U.S. 35 and W.V. 62. They travel across bridges maintained by the West Virginia Department of Transportation.
That is the connection we cannot afford to overlook. West Virginia may be competing in the economy of the future, but that economy will still depend on the roads and roughly 7,000 bridges beneath it.
West Virginia has made substantial infrastructure progress through Roads to Prosperity and the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. But the job is far from finished.
The latest federal inventory lists 1,307 West Virginia bridges with at least one key component rated in poor condition. Together, those bridges carry 2.8 million vehicle crossings every day.
There is good news. That number is down by 63 bridges from the previous year. The federal bridge formula program is an important reason why, and West Virginia has committed $400 million from that program to 481 additional bridge projects.
For many West Virginians, these are not abstract statistics. They drive across the issue every day.
The Eugene A. Carter Memorial Bridge carries approximately 100,000 vehicles a day through Charleston on Interstate 64, making it the most heavily traveled bridge in West Virginia. Potholes forced emergency repairs there last summer, and a $74.5 million deck replacement begins this fall.
Across the Kanawha Valley, the state plans to repair or replace 50 bridges over five years at a cost of $435 million using a combination of state and federal funds. Sen. Capito also helped secure another $65 million for the Dunbar Toll Bridge and Kanawha Turnpike overpass.
That is the good news.
The bad news is that the federal law paying for much of this work officially expired on Sept. 30, 2026. Congress approved a temporary extension through Dec. 11.
A five-year reauthorization bill, currently known as the BUILD America 250 Act, cleared the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in May but has not advanced since. The Senate has not yet introduced its own bill. When Congress returns following the midterm elections, lawmakers will have only about five weeks to act.
A short-term extension keeps federal transportation programs operating. What it does not provide is the long-term certainty states and construction companies need to plan.
That matters far beyond the walls of the Contractors Association of West Virginia.
Our more than 500 member companies employ approximately 22,000 people across the state. Over the past year, construction added more jobs in West Virginia than any other industry -- almost 4,900 of them. These are good-paying careers that often do not require a four-year college degree or the student debt that can come with one.
But construction companies cannot make long-term decisions based on a series of short-term extensions from Washington.
A contractor hires a crew, buys equipment or trains an apprentice only when there is work on the books to pay for it. Companies cannot plan five years of hiring, equipment purchases and workforce development around three-month extensions.
That is why predictable federal transportation funding matters.
West Virginia is also well-positioned to make its case in Washington. Sen. Capito chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and our congressional delegation has historically recognized the importance of infrastructure investment to the state.
When the time comes, we know we can count on Sens. Capito and Justice, Congresswoman Miller and Congressman Moore to stand with us.
Sen. Capito recently told industry leaders that one thing is certain: states will continue to be able to count on formula funding. That assurance is important. Now Congress needs to provide the long-term authorization behind it.
West Virginia's contractors need that certainty. Our emerging data center industry needs it. So do the families, workers and businesses that depend on our transportation system every day.
The federal government will spend $5.2 billion rebuilding Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge, and it is an investment the country needs to make.
West Virginia's bridges deserve that same commitment before deterioration becomes crisis.
Congress should pass a fully funded, multi-year surface transportation bill that gives states and contractors the certainty to plan, build, hire and train the next generation of workers.
Because whether the destination is a construction site, a manufacturing plant or a new artificial intelligence data center, West Virginia's economic future still has to get there by road -- and across a bridge.
Jason Pizatella is the chief executive officer of the Contractors Association of West Virginia, the largest trade association representing all segments of the construction industry. CAWV is the state chapter of the Associated General Contractors of America and the American Road and Transportation Builders Association.