KINGWOOD — Thinking outside the box. Collaboration. Trying new ways. Local input.
All those were terms and phrases used Monday night by county commissioners from Preston, Monongalia, Marion, Doddridge and Taylor Counties as they met to discuss road conditions in the Division of Highways’ (DOH) District 4, which includes those counties and Harrison.
In the end, what Mon County Commissioner Tom Bloom suggested calling the North Central Caucus on Roads had the beginnings of a plan and another meeting scheduled.
The group wants the DOH to allow counties to bid out contracts to small, local contractors for ditching and mowing, clearing the canopy and paving, similar to how the Preston Commission hired contractors to clear roads after Hurricane Sandy.
The source of the funds for those contracts wasn’t settled.
They also want to meet with state legislators from throughout the district and ask them to work together in Charleston on road issues.
“We need to hear not a political answer, we need a leadership answer,” Bloom said.
Preston Delegates Buck Jennings, R-53rd, and Terri Sypolt, R-52nd, were at the meeting. Delegate Jennings supported District 4 state elected officials working together and promised to call the governor.
Preston Commission President Craig Jennings said when the county talked with the DOH about using private contractors to do some of the ditching, canopy removal over roads and paving, they were told it costs $200,000 per mile to pave a road, and if ditching and cutting brush is added, the price increases to $400,000 per mile.
But a look at the DOH’s web site indicates it costs $100,000 per mile to pave and $8,000 per mile to do ditches, Commissioner Jennings said.
Bloom said it’s time for the state to reconsider the formula it uses to fund the DOH districts.
“I’m livid with how our delegates do not work together like they do in the southern part of the state,” Bloom said. “The north-central — we could be such a strong force here … The money isn’t coming up here.”
Craig Jennings agreed the counties need to speak with one voice in Char-leston and demand primary roads be fixed. He added that, “District 4, I’d say overall, excluding the eastern panhandle, is without a doubt the economic driver for the state right now.”
How we got here
Preston County called the meeting, and Craig Jennings explained how that came about.
It started when he returned from Roanoke, Va., and traveled roads outside District 4. The difference in road conditions was striking, he said.
The final straw was, “We had one stretch of road … where they were going to start painting the lines through eight-, nine-, 10-inch deep potholes.”
The county contacted the DOH about putting up signs, and the county office said the district had to approve that.
On April 19, Preston commissioners declared the roads are such that the county is in a state of emergency. The state has ignored that declaration, Jennings said. But potholes on the stretch of W.Va. 92 where the signs were requested have been patched, and DOH signs stuck in the hillside declare the 3.4-mile stretch, “rough road.”
Commissioner Jennings said first responders say the roads are hindering response, people are moving away because of the roads, vehicles are being damaged and tourism is being impacted, including the loss of a bicycle race formerly held on W.Va. 72.
No personnel, no funds
Ten DOH positions are unfilled in Preston, Jennings said, and those spots will never be filled at $12 an hour when CDL drivers are commanding $25 an hour in the private sector and convenience stores pay more than $12 an hour. Other counties share that need, he noted.
Preston has 1,250 miles of roads with 40 DOH county workers, he said. Taylor County Commissioner Rusty Efaw said Taylor and Doddridge County DOH share a grader.
Mon Commissioner Ed Hawkins noted population plays a role in road conditions as well. There are roads in Monongalia County that see 30,000 to 35,000 cars per day, he said.
Bloom said Mon County found it would cost $72 million to put two inches of blacktop on all county roads, but the DOH annual budget for the area is $1.4 million and includes snow removal and all other work to be done for a year.
Doddridge County Commissioner Greg Robinson noted there is a road with three slips in his county, and fixing just one would take up too much of the budget.
Bloom said that District 4 Engineer Don Williams and new Transportation Secretary Tom Smith are “opening some doors,” to work with this area.
But money is needed.
Mon County put $150,000 down for road work, prompting the DOH to match it with $850,000, Bloom said, to fix the upper part of River Road. What happens if delegates come up with a pool of money and match it with the DOH, he suggested.
We need to consider other funding methods for roads, Bloom said. “You can’t fix the darn roads if you keep cutting,” he said.
No communication
Marion County Commissioner Ernie Van-Gilder said he was never consulted about the Roads to Prosperity projects proposed there by the recently passed road bonds. One $60 million interstate project won’t happen because it doesn’t include money for the bridges, he said.
Commissioners would rather see the money go to other roads, VanGilder said.
Bloom proposed that, when federal money comes for roads, the state consult local road planning authorities and commissions, “and let us make some decisions,” rather than Charleston deciding where to spend the money.
“It’s a Catch 22. You go to the state and state says, ‘Here’s the only way we do it,’” Bloom said. “So why not think out of the box and say give us some opportunities? We have to get that changed.”
