From the Charleston Gazette...

Construction on the unfinished section of U.S. 35 in Putnam and Mason counties will start next spring and could be done by 2016, Putnam County commissioners said at a meeting today.

A public-private partnership will provide the money for the project, which would complete the last 14.6 miles of the highway.

Commissioners said the project would not include any tolls. They expect the project to cost $214 million. Construction would begin in April 2014, and could be done by April 2016, they said.

Residents have long wanted an upgrade of U.S. 35 for traffic and safety reasons. The junction of the old and new highways near the Buffalo Bridge in Putnam County has been the site of several accidents this year.

In 2010, officials from Putnam and Mason counties agreed to a plan that would have installed two tollbooths on either end of the U.S. 35 segment to help fund it. Mason County commissioners withdrew their support after a public outcry.

At that point, the project was estimated to cost $187 million. More than half of that would have come from the sale of federal transportation bonds, and about $30 million had been set aside through congressional earmarks.

Last month, state Department of Transportation spokesman Brent Walker said the U.S. 35 project could be funded by a public-private partnership.

"The Legislature has allowed us to take a look at this public-private partnership, and we're trying to find what projects could benefit ...," Walker told the Gazette. "I don't know that we've arrived at that decision for Route 35 yet, but we certainly know that it would be on anyone's list."

Earlier this year, state legislators changed the rules for public-private partnerships, allowing the state highways department to enter into such projects would no longer need legislative approval.