Time to stop and ask for directions: Governor, road officials need to tell us way — the plan — to improve road conditions

We were about to write meetings on road conditions are just not enough.
However, following Wednesday’s postponement of a Monongalia County Commission work session with state highway officials we thought better of that.
For now, that meeting is supposedly rescheduled for next Wednesday (April 10).
But judging by an invitation from the Division of Highways to separate two-hour meetings with officials from Monongalia, Preston and Taylor counties April 12, in Clarksburg, another change in plans may be in the works.
Pardon us, did we say a change in plans? Let’s be clear,  if there is plan we’re not even aware of it.
However, that idea has been the subject of a number of our newspaper’s editorials in the past and today.
It’s just not enough for the governor to say he is going to fix our roads. Obviously, the public wants to see action, but it also wants to know: What’s the plan?
Yes, any plan has to include ditching, clearing brush and cutting back the canopy. But it also needs to include cleaning out culverts and replacing some of them.
It also means doing more than paving along the edges of roads and creating bumps in the roads. It requires milling and repaving and a real maintenance schedule.
Earlier this year, we also signed off on the idea of contracting out some of the state’s roadwork beyond repaving, including ditching and grading
Contracting with some municipalities to do roadwork within their city limits might work, too.
No one expects the state or anyone else to bring all our roads up to snuff overnight or next year or even during the next couple of years.
However, without a plan to achieve this goal, our current actions look to be more  like a political promise.
What’s the point when a plan is always changing, you say? It’s so you can update everyone on the what, when, where, how and why of this effort.
Obviously, repairing and maintaining 36,000 miles of  road is an enormous challenge that looks overwhelming.
But with a public, structured and prioritized program broken down by Division of Highways districts or counties we can change the roads we’re on.
No one’s road should get most favored status and a road’s importance must take precedence over the urgency of others conditions.
The three bills the governor vetoed last week to improve our roads contained far more than an outline for such a plan. However, we must move on from that and focus on first conveying to state officials how bad things are.
Next, put  a plan down on paper (online) and let the public see it to refer to going forward.
And finally, let’s get  to work on a lot of levels, including meetings, to get it done.