State road crews working on late fall projects, Cheat River Road slide, road resurfacing happening all month

By Theresa Marthey, Preston County News & Journal, November 4, 2016

KINGWOOD — Major traffic delays on Cheat River Road may soon be coming to an end. Local road crews are nearly finished repairing a road slide that has caused major problems for motorists the last few weeks.

A section of Cheat River Road, approximately one mile from the intersection of W.Va. 7 and W.Va. 72, on the Cheat River side has slipped and is being shored up. The section of road has been indicated by “uneven pavement” signs.

“The project is approximately 50 percent complete and includes 212 feet of piling wall to stabilize the road and paving to even out the road,” Division of Highways Communications Specialist Carrie E. Jones said. “Guardrails will be installed also.”

Bilco Construction Co. Inc. of Newton was awarded the $400,726 project, and it is expected to be completed by mid-November. Once the repairs on Cheat River Road are complete, DOH crews will then begin a handful of late fall projects.

Those projects include repaving 2.55 miles of Mountaineer Highway (W.Va. 92). The contract was awarded to Dodd General Contractors of Bridgeport for $421,999.56 and should be completed by Nov. 16.

The second road project, which has not been awarded but is set to begin on Nov. 15, is .79 miles of thin overlay on West Virginia Route 7 in Masontown.

Finished paving projects include 3.38 miles of Interstate 68 from Coopers Rock to Laurel Run, 3.15 miles of George Washington Highway (U.S. 50), 1.9 miles of Gladesville Road, 1.6 miles of Clifton Mills Road, 2.7 miles of Caddell Mountain, 3.31 miles of Saltlick Road, 1.42 miles of W.Va. 26, and 2.03 miles of Interstate 68 (Maryland Road).

On Monday, Oct. 31, county commissioners received a Statewide Transportation Improvement Plan (STIP) from the state Division on Highways listing amendments to a five-year road repair and construction plan for Preston County.

The list contains four road projects for fiscal year 2017 that are required to have a “public review and comment period” because they show Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration expenditures.

According to the letter from Deputy State Highway Engineer Robert Pennington, “additions or deletions to the STIP and certain changes to projects currently in the STIP must meet this requirement before federal funds can be obtained.”

Included in the list are resurfacing projects on Brandonville Pike, Cranesville Road and Macomber-Hardesty Road (W.Va. 50). Mileage and specific locations for the projects are not given in the list.

“While 2017 is marked beside these projects in the list, we have not received funding for next year yet,” Jones said. “We are waiting for our funding.” According to Jones, so far this year, the DOH has invested more than $7 million on resurfacing 19.49 miles of county roads during the recent spring and summer.