KINGWOOD — Charleston may have lost sight of the need to fix roads, but Preston commissioners said they haven’t.
Commission President Samantha Stone said Tuesday that last week she contacted Lynn Phillips, the regional representative for Gov. Jim Justice. Phillips came to the office last Wednesday, she said.
He reported that while Preston County Division of Highways (DOH) Supervisor Blain Bowmar is on leave, Harlan Wolfe will be in charge.
“Mr. Phillips felt that Mr. Wolfe has a good plan to get underway with the core maintenance of the county, and we will be following up and checking on that,” Stone said.
She said commissioners will be looking through complaints about roads received last year and checking to see if each was taken care of properly and if the maintenance held up.
“It’s my understanding that the legislation to date in Charleston is at a standstill. I believe the focus has shifted,” Stone said. “And it’s very unfortunate again that roads seem not to be a priority in Charleston. And that’s very, very frustrating.
“We see a lot of work happening, but we truly want to see some sort of legislation take place that’s going to show us that we’re not going to be left behind again, once we can no longer focus on roads. We want that to be their focus, not ours,” she said.
Commissioners are still hearing often from people around the county about roads, she said.
Commissioner Dave Price acknowledged, “a tremendous amount of primary road progress last year.” But sections of roads that weren’t gotten to last year, like the south end of W.Va. 26 and Coal Lick Road, are where commissioners will be shifting some focus now, he said.
“We’re talking about the tertiaries or the roads like the Aurora Pike,” Price said. “Or some of the ones that used to be paved and they aren’t now.”
Stone said over the years, many people started taking care of the roads themselves.
“That is not, nor should it ever be the case. No one should be spending their resources, their time and energy or funds of their own to maintain a state highway or secondary road. It happens a lot.”
The state owns the roads and the state is responsible for them, Stone said. And when citizens maintain them, Commissioner Don Smith said, it makes it appear work is being done by the state.
Price said he’s heard the DOH “has pulled back on the overtime. I just thought the weather was good and they could do things.”
Commissioners said they intend to keep pushing for better roads.
TWEET @DominionPostWV
