Published: March 04, 2009 08:28 pm      

Turnpike deserved repair dollars, Senate leader says

His district is in line for nearly $19 million for road and bridge maintenance in stimulus cash, but Senate Minority Leader Don Caruth still feels the West Virginia Turnpike deserved first attention.

Under the plan, it gets none, and that means no money for the 88-mile toll road.

Compared to other regions, Caruth acknowledged Wednesday that Mercer and Greenbrier counties in his 10th District landed “a substantial amount” of money.

“That’s not really the disagreement we have,” Caruth, R-Mercer, said.

What peeves him and Majority Leader Truman Chafin, D-Mingo, is that the state didn’t earmark its stimulus dollars to what they view as the most pressing need — restoring the turnpike.

Had this been done, the two maintain, there possibly might not be a need to raise the tolls for the first time since 1981.

If the two leaders had been making the decisions, the turnpike would have come first, Caruth said.

“We can’t imagine there’s any better and more worthy project as much as there are complaints about the condition of the turnpike,” Caruth said.

“Instead of using this money which is available to the Department of Transportation, they’re going to take that money, spend it somewhere else, and they’re still going to want us to pay tolls, and maybe higher tolls, to fix the turnpike.”

Only a day earlier, Tom Smith, a division administrator for the Federal Highway Administration, advised a Senate panel the state could compete with other states for as much as $100 million beyond its allotted $211 million in a separate $1.5 billion fund.

That could open the door to fetch more dollars for the King Coal Highway and Coalfields Expressway, he suggested.

“I would hope that’s the case,” Caruth said.

If there is competition for extra money, he said, the Legislature needs to be involved in the process.

“We need to be able to tell them what we believe the priorities should be, at least in regard to southern West Virginia.”

A printout showed Mercer County’s allotment of the first stimulus money breaks down this way:

Bluefield Road/U.S. 460, resurfacing, $2.3 million; Pinnacle Rock/Lorton Lick/U.S. 52, resurfacing, $1.6 million; Oakvale Bridge, bridge overlay repair, $800,000; Jug Neck, bridge replacement, $550,000; turnpike tunnel overpass/bridge, cleaning and painting, $494,000; turnpike overpass, bridge cleaning and painting, $258,000; and Camp Creek overpass, bridge cleaning and painting, $234,000.

Greenbrier County is getting these funds:

Harts Run/I-64, resurfacing, $3,480,000; Charmco Mountain (W.Va. 20) truck lane, safety, $2,640,000; Alta/I-64, resurfacing, $1,680,000; Mountain Avenue Bridge, painting and cleaning, $1,247,000; Greenbrier Avenue, bridge replacement, $625,000; and Sinking Creek, bridge replacement, $550,000.

Monroe County:

North Peterstown/U.S. 219, resurfacing, $1,123,000; Indian Creek, bridge replacement, $775,000; and Alderson Bridge, overlay repair, $550,000.

— E-mail: mannix@register-herald.com