The district engineer of the Division of Highways District 6 is hopeful he and his workforce can make a very positive difference over the next few months following a record-setting amount of rainfall.
Reynolds, who resigned as a state lawmaker in October 2023 to accept the position with the DOH, currently is navigating crews in all six counties through his first spring and one of the wettest April in recent history. Wetzel County, according to the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh, experienced nearly 7 inches of rain while the Wheeling area was drenched by nearly 6 inches.
The Ohio River flooded twice within a 10-day period and an abundance of damaged roadways have been identified.
“And the grass and weeds are growing, that’s for sure,” Reynolds said. “Our people have been out there spraying the overgrowth and we’re mowing a ton, too. We’ve been able to increase our mowing now that our crews have caught up with a lot of the (pothole) patching, and that’s allowed us to catch up and get ahead of the game a little bit. That’s a good thing, too, because we’ve had a really, really wet spring and that means that grass is just going to keep growing.
“I know our people are going on their counties and mowing and weed-eating everything they see, but I’m sure they won’t get it in every spot,” he said. “But I’m also sure people in those areas will let us know what we missed.”
The effort, though, is being made right now, Reynolds reported.
“We’re trying to speed up on a lot of maintenance so we keep in front of it because if you don’t, the overgrowth will become overwhelming and we don’t want that to happen,” he explained. “I know this office has received a lot of complaints in the past because I was one of the people who made some of those calls because I would see something. I’m trying to see if we can avoid that situation this year.
“I know a lot of it depends on the weather,” he said. “So, I’m hoping to take advantage of the opportunities the weather gives us to stay out in front of it.”
A plethora of roadway slips have been reported this spring, as well.
“The rain just didn’t stop, and when that’s the case, some of our road slips,” Reynolds reported. “That’s why we’ve also been taking a hard look at the slips that took place when we were experiencing the river flooding, and those jobs are part of the plan, too.
“We want to get on those before they get any worse than they are today,” he said. “We’ll be working with contractors on some of those jobs, but we’ll also see what we can do ourselves, too.”
Pace of Paving
He’s stretching dollars while trying to make the most sense.
That’s why Reynolds soon will implement a new system when it comes to chip recycling and future pothole patching.
“I have six pieces of new equipment coming to the district that will help us with our paving, and each county office will get its own so we can start taking advantage of our own asphalt chips. That will increase the amount of recycling,” Reynolds said. “That means when we grind up the roads that need to be paved, we’ll take those chips and pile and store them. And then in the winter, we’ll toss those chips into our hot mixer for patching.
“That means who won’t have to waste money on the cold patch to temporarily fill potholes,” he explained. “We’ll have the better asphalt already to make more permanent fixes.”
When the weather permits, Reynolds insisted, paving will be taking place at one or more locations in the 6th District for the next couple of months.
“I would like to do more paving in the 6th District than people have seen for a very long time, so we’ll see what the weather and the budget allows. I want to do all of the main routes first, and then I would love to get to a lot of the other roads that people have been telling me about,” Reynolds said. “Since I’ve been in this position, a lot of people from throughout the panhandle have been telling me about roadways that need attention.
“We have a great group of people in all six counties so we’ve set some goals,” he said. “I know it’s tough to make people happy when it comes to our roads, but we’re going to do our best.”
Each district office is in need of additional employees, and Reynolds is willing to speak with anyone interested in working in one of the county operations in some capacity. He knows, though, there’s plenty of competition in the region.
“People see our crews when we’re working on the main roads, but we have a lot of crews on our secondary roads, and the only people who those folks are the people who live along those ridges out in our counties,” Reynolds said. “When we get the amount of rain that we did in April, we’re going to have the slips because a lot of roads were built a long time ago.
“Our main purpose is to maintain our roadways so our residents can get to where they are going safely and soundly,” the district engineer added. “I take that very seriously and I’d love to have more people helping us with it.”
