CHARLESTON — State legislators from the Northern Panhandle hit a roadblock Tuesday when they set out to expedite improvements to W.Va. 2.
The next step is likely a detour to Washington to convince West Virginia’s federal lawmakers of the need for work on the highway. Most agree it should be widened and the neighboring hillside secured.
“The meeting went about as well as we thought it would go,” said Delegate Tim Ennis, D-Brooke, who arranged the session in Charleston Tuesday with West Virginia Secretary of Transportation Paul Mattox. “He talked to us and told us there was no money for Route 2, that road construction across the state is down and they don’t have enough money to keep up with it.”
Ennis termed it “obviously disappointing” that state officials couldn’t find the money to improve W.Va. 2. A recent landslide on W.Va. 2 in Brooke County caused a temporary closure of the highway and a detour while a temporary fix was implemented.
“We know for a fact there is road construction going on in this state — in southern West Virginia,” he added. “We were told this was happening because of federal earmarks secured by federal legislators.
“It appears to me that unless our Congressional delegation comes through, I don’t see much happening on W.Va. 2 in the near future.”
U.S. senators Robert Byrd and Jay Rockefeller, both D-W.Va., were invited to the meeting, as was U.S. Rep. Alan Mollohan, D-W.Va. Byrd’s office informed Ennis the senator couldn’t come and wouldn’t be sending an aid. There was no response from Rockefeller’s office, according to Ennis. Mollohan, meanwhile, did send an aid to the gathering in Charleston. Gov. Joe Manchin had indicated he might attend the session, but in the end he also sent an aid.
State legislators representing Brooke and Hancock County attended, along with members of the W.Va 2/I-68 Authority. “It was the ‘same old, same old,’” said state Sen. Andy McKenzie, R-Ohio. “We heard that there was $100 million being spent on roads in other parts of the state, but not in our part.”
He also noted that Mollohan as well as U.S. Reps. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., and Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va, “have dollars for projects that aren’t in our district.” A lot of these are in Mollohan’s home area of Fairmont, W.Va., McKenzie added.
“We just have to talk to Rockefeller and Mollohan about how we can get this money,” McKenzie said. “We also need to work harder with the governor’s office.
“It’s very frustrating. We know we have emergency situations on W.Va. 2, and now we have to put it back on the shoulders of our Congressional delegation. We have to make sure the money comes to the Northern Panhandle.”
Ennis added that Mattox suggested local municipalities — such as the financially strapped Brooke County — partner with the state to improve W.Va. 2.