TRIADELPHIA — It’s the start of a new year with new West Virginia leaders — and the beginning of talk once more of constructing a second interchange connecting Interstate 70 with The Highlands development in Ohio County.

Even if county officials are able to convince new state leaders about the need and viability of such a project, work isn’t going to start immediately, according to County Commissioner Randy Wharton, also president of the Ohio County Development Authority.

“This is not the first time we’ve had to do this,” he explained, referencing discussions to get the first intersection leading to the development of The Highlands. “We did it over 20 years ago. It was not easy then, and we’re not expecting it to be different now.

“It is going to be work getting this done, and it will take the cooperation of a lot of people. We have to tell them we’re not going anywhere, we’re not getting smaller and the need exists.”

Wharton said county leaders do continue to talk to West Virginia lawmakers, officials with the State Department of Ohio and even federal agencies about the need for a second interchange. He also noted they “will keep working on that.”

“They are all about the money (the cost), and the need. We have the need, we just need to locate the money,” Wharton continued. “The project is not on the back burner with us. Everytime we meet with state officials it is always brought up.

“We are going to have an entire administrative change now. Whoever is left, we will have to bring them up to speed on it. We will need to educate them on The Highlands, and the need to have back access to the development.”

More than a decade ago, federal agencies estimated the cost to build the second interchange at as much as $35 million, according to Wharton.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if that has doubled by now,” he continued. “It’s a process. Then once you get a go ahead, it’s still years before it is done.”