On this West Virginia Week, legislators started off the week back in Charleston for the first time since the end of the regular session for interim meetings. Meanwhile, we heard about the state’s rising natural gas production, the new challenges of digital devices for parents, and ahead of Earth Day, we took a look at a major composting operation.
On this West Virginia Week, legislators started off the week back in Charleston for the first time since the end of the regular session for interim meetings. We learned more about the state’s finances, government auditing and a new approach to maintaining the state’s roads.
Meanwhile, we heard about the state’s rising natural gas production, the new challenges of digital devices for parents, and ahead of Earth Day, we took a look at a major composting operation.
Chris Schulz is our host this week. Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert.
West Virginia Week is a web-only podcast that explores the week’s biggest news in the Mountain State. It’s produced with help from Bill Lynch, Briana Heaney, Chris Schulz, Curtis Tate, Emily Rice, Eric Douglas, Jack Walker, Liz McCormick and Randy Yohe.
A suggestion was made during the Joint Committee on Technology and Infrastructure interim meeting this week to create something similar to a Blue Ribbon Commission, focused on improving the state’s secondary roads.
That suggestion came from Del. Jim Butler, R-Mason, who said the state’s Roads to Prosperity $2.8 billion bonding project has obviously not worked for maintaining secondary roads, especially in his area.
“We’ve got Route 35 down here in Mason County, which was a big thing,” Butler said, “But that was already in construction or in the works before the Roads for Prosperity Bond was passed. And it hasn’t done anything good I’ve seen for our secondary roads. Many county routes in the vicinity of the NUCOR plant are among the areas that are really bad that I get complaints about.”
Butler said his suggestion is not about another Blue Ribbon Road Commisson on HIghways like the one set up in 2012. He said improvements won’t just come with funding, but an organized plan that is specific to secondary road maintenance.
“It needs to be our Technology and Infrastructure Committee to begin this process,” Butler said. “Get the Department of Highways into our normal meeting and spend some time and figure out what the problems are and not make it just a big spending proposal.”
During his Wednesday media briefing, WVPB asked Justice about Butler’s suggestion and comments. He began by saying state road conditions and the overall Department of Highways have undergone a positive transformation during his time in office.
“When I walked in the door, we needed money so badly that we sold our own equipment in order to generate some dollars,” Justice said. “Today, we have an abundance of top level, brand new maintenance equipment, and we’re doing stuff all over the place.”
Justice then noted that Butler’s home district concerns were being addressed.
“My staff met yesterday with people in Mason County on the condition of roads there,” he said.
Justice called the Roads to Prosperity program “absolutely successful,” but added that it is a work in progress.
“We’re going to keep on doing everything we can,” Justice said. “And we’re going to keep on making every improvement that we can make. But we’re not going to do that by just creating a situation where we create a tax burden on our people to just do more and more and more and more instantaneously and everything.”
Butler said road maintenance funding doesn’t necessarily need to be increased but prioritized in a different way.
“I want it to be something where we get down in the weeds and figure out how we can better finance our roads,” Butler said, “And how can we make sure that that money is well spent and we get good results.”
The 1,875-foot Wellsburg Bridge now connects Wellsburg, West Virginia in the Northern Panhandle to Brilliant, Ohio.
Getting from Wellsburg, West Virginia in the Northern Panhandle to Brilliant, Ohio used to be a chore. For decades, people in both communities have been asking for a bridge across the river.
And on Wednesday, that wish became a reality.
The 1,875-foot Wellsburg Bridge now connects the communities. It was built as part of the 2017 Roads to Prosperity program.
The local community celebrated the opening with a car show, food trucks, bands and fireworks. It is also featured on the West Virginia Department of Transportation (WVDOT) podcast “WV on the DOT.”
The episode, which is now available on most podcast providers, was recorded on the Wellsburg Bridge during the bridge’s grand opening celebration. The podcast hosts captured local voices about what the bridge will mean to them.
Local resident Barbara Miller.
Courtesy West Virginia Department of Transportation
“This is a tremendous opportunity for the Northern Panhandle,” Barbara Miller, a resident of Windsor Heights in Brooke County, said. “We’ll use this bridge to go to the malls more easily. My granddaughter recently got a job in Steubenville, Ohio so I am really happy she’ll be able to use this bridge every day and shorten her route.”
“There are a lot of people here supporting their community and ready for this new connection,” Rowdy Workman, of Shadyside, Ohio, said.
Workman grew up in Moundsville, West Virginia. He participated in the grand opening ceremony, presenting the colors when Gov. Jim Justice arrived.
The 830-foot main span of the bridge was built off-site on the bank of the Ohio River just upstream from the bridge site by Flatiron Construction of Broomfield, Colorado. Flatiron won the $131 million contract to build the new bridge.
“The bridge is here because of the community on both sides of the river,” Mike Swinson, of Flatiron Construction, said on the podcast. “These folks have been wanting this bridge, this connection, for decades. They are the genesis of this. Working with West Virginia DOT and Ohio DOT, this bridge got the funding and Flatiron was selected to deliver the bridge.”
On April 26, 2021, the 830-foot main span was lifted onto two pairs of barges and moved into position in a massive, 13-and-a-half-hour operation. It was the largest bridge floating project ever attempted in North America.
The bridge was supported on the barges by eight sets of sectional pilings. Once in place, it was slowly jacked up and additional pylons were set underneath until it was high enough to rest on its support piers.
In 2022, there were 800 crashes in West Virginia work zones, killing eight people and injuring 276. The Department of Transportation said all those crashes were avoidable.
In his Wednesday media briefing, Gov. Jim Justice said the 2023 paving season will include 126 projects statewide, covering all 55 counties.
He said more than 260 miles of highway will be resurfaced and more than 26,500 miles of roadway will be reviewed for pothole patching.
It’s a total investment of $290 million,” Justice said. “Additional miles will be added to the roadways, coupled with the larger projects that are all going on.”
Two larger West Virginia Department of Transportation (WVDOT) road and bridge rebuild projects include stretches of I-64 in Cabell and Kanawha counties.
Five Roads to Prosperity projects are scheduled to begin construction this season, including the replacement of two rural bridges.
Contractors are replacing the Philip Run Bridge in Calhoun County. Construction is also expected to replace the Middle Fork Bridge in Grant County and the bridge at Hedgesville High School in Berkeley County.
Other plans include repaving Henry Camp Road in Pleasants County, and Liverpool Road in Roane County. Contractors will also soon begin on a $15.3 million project to repave a five-mile stretch of Interstate 64 in Raleigh County, from Airport Road to the Glade Creek Bridge.
“Everyone can keep tabs on how much work we’ve completed and everyone can see what’s coming next,” Justice said.
The seasonal workload comes with a work zone safety goal of zero fatalities. There’s an enforcement partnership that has been formed between local, county and state law enforcement with WVDOT work zone managers. Justice said reaching the zero fatalities goal requires a police crackdown and using safe driving habits anywhere near road projects.
“Traveling up and down the road, at whatever mile an hour it may be, they are within feet of you,” Justice said. “And it’s so easy to have a catastrophe. So please be really careful.”
In 2022, there were 800 crashes in West Virginia work zones, killing eight people and injuring 276. T
he Department of Transportation said all those crashes were avoidable.
On this West Virginia Morning, it’s Dementia Friendly Day in St. Albans. The Kanawha County town is the first location in the state that has been recognized as being dementia friendly. For his special radio series, “Getting Into Their Reality: Caring For Aging Parents,” News Director Eric Douglas spoke with Walter Hall, the vice mayor of St. Albans, and one of the founders of the Dementia Friendly program, to find out what it’s all about.
On this West Virginia Morning, it’s Dementia Friendly Day in St. Albans. The Kanawha County town is the first location in the state that has been recognized as being dementia friendly.
For his special radio series, “Getting Into Their Reality: Caring For Aging Parents,” News Director Eric Douglas spoke with Walter Hall, the vice mayor of St. Albans, and one of the founders of the Dementia Friendly program, to find out what it’s all about.
Also, in this show, between the Roads to Prosperity and the federal infrastructure law, there is a lot going on when it comes to roads and bridges. In our latest episode of The Legislature Today, Curtis Tate spoke with state Transportation Secretary Jimmy Wriston and Sen. Charles Clements, R-Wetzel, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, to discuss the state’s progress.
West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting which is solely responsible for its content.
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On this episode of The Legislature Today, between the Roads to Prosperity and the federal infrastructure law, there is a lot going on when it comes to roads and bridges. Curtis Tate speaks with Transportation Secretary Jimmy Wriston and Sen. Charles Clements, R-Wetzel, the chairman of the Senate Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, to discuss the state’s progress.
On this episode of The Legislature Today, emotions ran high and the rhetoric ran long as the House of Delegates debated the contentious campus carry firearms bill. As Government Reporter Randy Yohe reports, the bill was approved in the chamber and is now on its way to the governor.
Also, between the Roads to Prosperity and the federal infrastructure law, there is a lot going on when it comes to roads and bridges. Curtis Tate speaks with Transportation Secretary Jimmy Wriston and Sen. Charles Clements, R-Wetzel, the chairman of the Senate Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, to discuss the state’s progress.
Tuesday was Recovery Advocacy Day at the West Virginia Legislature, the capitol rotunda filled with smiling faces, clear heads and hopeful hearts. The goal was to identify areas related to treatment, prevention and recovery efforts and lobby for important legislation. Randy Yohe has this story.
A bill meant to staff each West Virginia hospital with a qualified sexual assault nurse examiner passed the Senate unanimously and is headed to the governor’s desk. Appalachia Health News Reporter Emily Rice has more.
Finally, the Senate took up a bill that would change how and how much counties pay for inmates they send to the state’s correctional system. Chris Schulz has more.
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The Legislature Today is West Virginia’s only television/radio simulcast devoted to covering the state’s 60-day regular legislative session.
Watch or listen to new episodes Monday through Friday at 6 p.m. on West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
