Why the state may benefit from letting municipalities share custody of roads
West Virginia’s other state flower is already in bloom: the orange cone.
Pothole filling started early this year because of February’s mild temperatures, and around the time the first orange cones started appearing, orange flags seemed to sprout from street signs and stop signs in and around Suncrest.
The orange flags are part of a pedestrian project spearheaded by three neighborhood stakeholders. Vaike Haas, Tiphani Davis and Sumi Mehta secured a federal grant to create the Suncrest Safe Routes program. They worked with Morgantown’s engineering department and the Morgantown Pedestrian Safety Board to identify key places where pedestrians try to cross the road without crosswalks, but where heavy traffic may make it unsafe.
Technically, pedestrians have the right-of-way, even without crosswalks or traffic lights, but West Virginia drivers don’t seem to have gotten the memo. The orange flags alert drivers to a potential crossing site. If someone is trying to cross, the pedestrian grabs a flag, waves it to get drivers’ attention and carries it to the other side of the road once traffic has stopped.
Why not just put in crosswalks? Good question. Haas — who made the flags — told Morgantown City Council, “The whole point of this is to demonstrate to the [Division of Highways] regional engineer that if you make changes drivers will change behavior. This is why crosswalks get denied, because he doesn’t want to make a false sense of security in front of the school … If we can show that making changes works, I think we can advocate for more change.”
Which is where orange flags lead us back to orange cones.
In announcing the “pothole repair blitz” the state is starting, Transportation Secretary Jimmy Wriston said, “We had a great year last year paving, [and] we’re going to have a great year this year paving …”
Many people would disagree with the first part of his statement. Mon County and Preston County residents constantly complain to councils and commissions about the streets, only to hear the same thing again and again: That’s a state road; there’s nothing we can do.
Obviously, the state has its hands full when it comes to repairing and maintaining roads. Meanwhile, the Suncrest Safe Routes program is a prime example of local residents and governments knowing what their communities need and getting things done.
Which is why it may behoove Division of Highways to share custody of some state roads — like Collins Ferry Road and University Avenue, both part of the Safe Routes program — with local governments that are willing to take over maintenance. In such shared custody arrangements, costs could be split between the DOH and the municipality, but the municipality would facilitate and oversee the work. This would allow local governments to prioritize roads and projects that are most important to their communities. Simultaneously, the DOH would be freed to focus its time and effort on other areas.
