Help FOC Improve the Jenkinsburg
Access Road
to the Cheat and Big
Sandy!
Everyone
who paddles the Cheat Canyon and Lower Big Sandy Creek knows about the poor
condition of the Jenkinsburg Access Road. This road has continued to deteriorate
each year causing real problems for paddlers and outfitters
running shuttle. Large potholes, muddy ruts, washouts, clogged culverts, steep
drop-offs and high rocks are hard on vehicles, especially the smaller cars most
of us are driving.
Although Bull Run Road is a county road and should be
maintained by the state, recent budget cuts combined with severe winter weather
damage to primary roads make it unlikely that hard-pressed highway crews will
give it much attention. Friends of the Cheat has received permission from the
Highway Department to repair the road ourselves. They offered to contribute 100
tons of stone fill if Friends of the Cheat pays for the labor.
Kevin
Ryan, Friends of the Cheat’s project manager, completed a GIS inventory of road
conditions and lined up a contractor to do the work well before Cheat Festival
Weekend. We will use a jackhammer to knock down the most troublesome rocks and
fill in the worst ruts with stone. The road will still be rough, but more easily
passable by ordinary vehicles.
Friends of the Cheat borrowed $5,000 so we
could get this work done fast. We’re depending on you pay off this debt and to
send a message to the State of West Virginia that the river and road are valued
by the paddling public. Your donations will matter when we approach the Governor
and Legislature to appropriate funding for more extensive improvements. Anyone
who donates $100 or more will get a FREE friends of the Cheat membership or have
their current membership extended one year.
Please forward this to any interested friends. Thanks,
everyone!! Charlie Walbridge
Friends of the Cheat Road
Fund
119
S Price St,
Kingwood,
WV 26537
(304)
329-3621