There is more to come, folks. After all, we’ve got another week left of the February Fury before the media starts calling this onslaught of winter weather The Madness of March.
So that’s why we’re deeply concerned that with four full weeks before the “official” first day of spring, the snow- and ice-removal budget for the Department of Transportation has been exhausted. It’s not just exhausted — as of early this week, officials told state lawmakers that this week of wintry weather alone could put the $54 million fund in the red.
We all know that making it to March 20 doesn’t mean the snow will stop. And every day that there’s a winter weather advisory or winter storm warning in any part of West Virginia, the deficit will increase. The deeper the white stuff, the deeper we go into the red.
Nearly every county and district office of the Division of Highways is either over budget or close to it, Danny Ellis, assistant cabinet secretary for transportation, told lawmakers earlier this week. And we have to believe that the prediction applies to Marion County, as our area has seen 24 inches and more over a two-week period.
We see a few possible paths plowed by these startling numbers.
First, the the road crews across West Virginia continue to do their best to fight the snow and ice and continue to spend money on equipment, manpower, cinders and salt. And that will, unfortunately, mean the money will have to be shifted from other line items, like road repair and patching.
That’s a slippery path to take. We can barely see the roadways under so much slush and packed snow, but be assured that the worst winter has to offer and all of the cinder and salt treatment are wreaking havoc on the pavement and asphalt below. Roads will probably be impassable once winter retreats and will need immediate attention.
The second path is one we don’t even want to attempt — cutting back on plowing and treatment in order to preserve some funding for spring repairs. We shudder to think that’s even a possibility.
The third path — the only one that seems clear — is some kind of funding injection for the Department of Transportation so that it can continue over the next four weeks (maybe more) to plow and treat the roadways across the state and be able to repair the damage the winter of 2010 will inevitably cause.
We’re not just talking about the thousands of miles of highways that this crisis situation affects statewide. To give just one local example, U.S. 250 in Marion?County, from the Taylor County line all the way to Wetzel County, is treated by the Division of Highways. That’s just one of the hundreds of roads in Marion?County that falls under the umbrella of the state’s responsibility.
No matter where the money comes from — disaster aid, stimulus funding, a shift in the state’s budget — it better come soon or we’ll all continue to be “snowbound” long after the snow has melted.