KINGWOOD — “The cavalry’s coming, and we’ve already come, and we’re not going to go away till the last road’s fixed. That’s all there is to it,” Gov. Jim Justice promised Preston County Thursday.
Justice arrived in Preston driving a GMC Denali and picked up Preston County commissioners Don Smith and Samantha Stone for a one-hour road tour.
From Kingwood, their route included County Route 52 to Greens Run, CR 25/2 (Wolfe Road), Indian Rocks, Coal Train, W.Va. 7 and 92, O Road, Dogtown Road, Sandy Bottom, Borgman-Manown Road, Company House Road, W.Va. 26, CR 26/72, Oaks Loop and Tunnelton Street.
Smith said the governor was shocked at the condition of some of the roads.
“Especially when [Stone] informed him that some of them were bus routes. He said, ‘You’ve got to be kidding. This is a bus route? I don’t want a bus going down this road.’ ” Smith said.
“We were able to see roads that we have made a lot of progress on, and we’ve seen roads that we surely need to do a lot more on,” Justice said after the tour. “Every one of us wants to see every road fixed. Every one of us regrets and hates the condition of roads that we’re taking school buses down. For crying out loud, we’re tearing the school buses up. Or the sheriff’s department or the police department or whatever.”
Much work has already been done on Preston roads, he said. But every county has roads, “that are bad.” Efforts are being made to fix them all, he said.
The Dominion Post asked Justice if Preston County roads got any extra attention because it was the first county to declare a state of emergency because of its roads and representatives made repeated forays to Charleston to lobby for better roads.
“Probably so,” he said. “The squeaky wheel always gets the grease, and we tried to address emergencies as best we possibly can. But there’s a lot, lot more that needs to be done in Preston County, and we recognize that, and we’re going to get it done.”
There’s already been an influx of money spent on roads, but everything can’t be done on Day 1, he said. And even if all the money needed was available, all the work can’t be done in one summer.
“When I walked in the door, this state was bankrupt, dead flat bankrupt,” the governor said. Now the state’s economy is improving and the state budget is running surpluses, so extra cash is being pumped into roads, he said.
Stone said compared to when the state of emergency was declared last year, “we have come so far. We recognize and still fight the battle daily with secondary roads in this county, but I feel pretty confident in the new leadership we have at District 4, with the new leadership we have at the state level, that they’re not going to ignore Preston County anymore.”
The governor was also asked about Monongalia County Commissioner Tom Bloom’s comments on his plans to visit Preston County and what he sees as the DOH’s failure to keep Mon County updated on its plans for roadwork.
“I’ll surely go [to Mon County]. That’s not an issue whatsoever,” Justice said, but it wasn’t going to be Thursday.
Stone said work is being done throughout District 4, and she hopes counties recognize the value of it all.
Smith noted Justice had to drive through Mon County to reach Preston and, during the tour, they reiterated to him that some of the roads they were driving go to Mon County.
“People here work in Mon County, they work in Marion County, so it’s important those roads be worked on. It’s important those people have safe travel back and forth,” Smith said. “Let’s make sure that every road is safe.”
The governor said it took decades for roads to get into the shape they are now. Everything that’s being done to improve them, he said, “is because our state’s doing better.”
“I truly believe that fixing our secondary roads is a priority second to almost none,” Justice said.
Justice said he had “a great conversation” with Smith and Stone. “The more input we can get from them the better, on the priorities and the most urgent priorities and what we can do to strengthen the maintenance in the area.”
Justice praised the new leadership in state roads and District 4.
West Virginia Transportation Secretary and Highways Commissioner Byrd White, Deputy Highways Commissioner Jimmy Wriston, DOH District 4 Engineer Darby Clayton and Preston County DOH Supervisor Blain Bowmar accompanied the governor.
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