We can still change road county is on

Two out of three isn’t bad, but three out of three is even better.
And four out of four? Well, it does happen, but not if you sit on your hands and play not to lose, instead of win.
About two weeks ago, our newspaper urged the Monongalia County Commission to stop playing it safe.
We called on the commission to join Hancock, Marshall and Preston counties in declaring a state of emergency over our road conditions.
It’s apparent the commission still wants to see what road projects and repairs will be completed this season before it does anything.
It is also hedging its bets on a potential June meeting with state and local officials on road conditions in Monongalia County.
Though we’re disappointed the commission is not willing to act on a declaration of emergency, we’re not discouraged.
After all, the results in two of those three counties — Marshall and Preston —  that have taken that step might convince them, yet.
On Wednesday, Gov. Jim Justice, along with the transportation secretary and the Division of Highways commissioner responded to Marshall County’s state of emergency.
The Marshall County Commission took that step in early April, followed by an ambush of the governor April 22 while he was making a $1 million presentation on other infrastructure projects.
That’s when questions started flying about Marshall’s roads and the governor observed, “There is a mega-emergency here. …  I can see it in your faces and in the tone of your voices that it’s worse than what I thought.”
Last week, Justice and those state officials responded in kind. In the last 30 days the DOH ditched and bladed 203 miles, across Marshall County.
Not to mention 166 tons of patching and related maintenance, bank stabilization projects and laying nearly 500 feet of drainage pipe — in one month.
No one can ignore the extra road crews, equipment and money expedited to Preston County, either,  since February, when the governor ordered a task force to improve its roads.
But looking back, more importantly Preston’s state of emergency in April 2018 was the catalyst for creation of the North Central Roads Caucus later, that’s fueled demands across the DOH’s District 4 for better roads.
That caucus, comprised of the six counties in District 4, including Monongalia and Preston, has consistently been out in front of road efforts.
Obviously, Hancock County’s declaration has yet to generate much response from the governor or the DOH, but it’s only two weeks old.
The governor, for all his flaws, which we recount in our pages daily, is for now dialed into the secondary roads’ repair, especially in our region.
So why shouldn’t Monongalia County turn up the volume on our discontent with the roads?