CHARLESTON — Masontown has a number of problems with its roads including a hole that could swallow a small car behind the post office.
Mayor James Cottrell brought the issues to light and asked what the town had to do to work closer with the Division of Highways during a meeting with several DOH officials and Secretary of Transportation Jimmy Wriston during Preston County Day at the Legislature last week.
Behind the post office, on E Street, they put a gas line through 15-20 years ago and the patch job is no longer there, Cottrell said.
“You have a hole that could swallow a small car now, in the blacktop where they bore under the road. The rest of the road is dirt,” Cottrell said.
The street needs to be paved from one end to the other, Cottrell said.
“I would love to be able to talk to mill that up and tar and chip the whole thing myself,” he said.
However, the road is listed as a state road and Cottrell said he needs DOH permission.
Cottrell also asked for a road outside of city limits to be tarred and chipped because the dirt road is being salted by residents at night which will cause problems come spring.
Joe Pack, Deputy State Highways Engineering Chief of District Operations said tarring and chipping doesn’t solve the ice issue because it also can’t be salted.
“Asphalt is impervious. It doesn’t allow water to seep through it. The tar and chip still has voids inside of it that’ll allow that salt solution to get into your subbase,” Pack said.
Another official said the DOH might be able to do something about the E Street pothole.
Cottrell told The Dominion Post on Wednesday he had not heard from the DOH since the meeting.
Other problems Masontown is having include getting salt and being told by the local DOH office that fixing a blocked culvert would require the entire road being torn up and replaced, Cottrell said.
Pack said he would look into the salt issue as it shouldn’t be a problem. There are plenty of cities and towns that have working partnerships where, as long as the town signs a an agreement saying the salt will only be used on DOH roads, they can come get salt.
“As you said, Route 7, you want it taken care of first, but some towns may say that we want our little side streets taken care of quicker than what you can get here. And we’re always cooperative with that,” Pack said.
Cottrell was also told he should be bringing problems to the District 4 office rather than the local Kingwood office.
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