“Deplorable” and “pathetic” were two popular adjectives when residents described the secondary roads in Marshall County.
“Alarming” and “dangerous,” though, were the terms used by Marshall County Sheriff Bill Helms when explaining the repairs needed for the department’s cruisers.
“I can’t tell you how many tires and rims were had to have replaced or repaired,” Helms said. “It was almost daily when a deputy would come back to the office with a banged-up vehicle because they couldn’t avoid something out there.”
That was nearly two years ago, and Helms and other county officials sounded the alarm loud enough to get the attention of W.Va. Jim Justice. The governor visited Marshall County on two occasions in May and July 2019, and since millions of dollars have been spent addressing the most atrocious roadways slips throughout the 312 square miles of the county.
“The condition of our secondary roads was the topic of conversation in Marshall County, and I’m sure families talk about it around their dinner tables because they were so bad and so dangerous,” Helms said. “At one time we had about 700 road slips throughout the county and they didn’t all get repaired since the governor was here a couple of times, but some of the worst one did.
“I do have to give credit where credit is due. The slips that were fixed were big jobs because of where they were located, and in some cases, most of the roads were literally gone,” he said. “A lot of those secondary roads are on steep ridges so the amount of work it took was much more than simply patching a pothole. Those guys had to building walls in order to make many of those roads whole again.”
Two Lanes or One?
Many of the secondary roads in Marshall County are situated along creeks and ridges, and in most cases an entire lane had washed or fallen away because of weather and the weight of the larger trucks traveling to well pads or other facilities in the county.
One example was Sally’s Backbone Ridge above Fish Creek Road where an enormous slip left only three inches of clearance for school buses. Not only have extensive repairs been made in that area, but in several more, as well, according to Helms.
“We saw a lot of construction trucks in the county last year, and not just DOH trucks, either, because what they had to address was epic. They needed the help and they didn’t hesitate to hire that help,” the sheriff said. “So, while all the slips have not been repaired, the ones that have been have made a big difference for the residents of this county.
“I know I have tried to explain some of those road slips to people, but the photos of them really told the story,” Helms said. “And if you drove up onto one, it was just amazing to see just how bad they were. And when you realize that school buses travel on those roads with our children and grandkids, that’s when it was very alarming to most of the people in this county.”
More to Come
Tony Clark was hired as the District 6 Engineer a year ago to oversee the operation that covers Tyler, Wetzel, Marshall, Ohio, Brooke, and Hancock counties. Along with the 416 miles of state road that rests in Marshall County, thousands more have been constructed and maintained in the other five counties.
And, while Interstate 70 and I-470 are federal freeways, Clark is tasked with the maintenance, inspections, and repairs that are deemed necessary along those roadways, too. As far as Marshall County, however, Clark has examined the current state of the streets and is concentrated on continuing to improve them.
“I would venture to say those roads are better than what they were,” Clark said. “They certainly were in rough shape, but a lot of work was performed and our crews our out there performing the core work like ditching, patching, and mowing. Those kinds of jobs are being performed better than what they were in the past.
“But there are absolutely more issues that need to be addressed and will be addressed as soon as we get the warmer temperatures in this area,” he said. “I believe we’re getting better, but the weather does impact those secondary roads because of where they are. We had a pretty good amount of snow this winter, too, and it seems as if there is a slip reported each time we get a lot of rain.”
Sheriff Helms, though, has been impressed with the amount of performed work to this point.
“These days, I would rate our secondary roads a 5 out of 10,” Helms said. “I do admire the efforts we have seen over the past year because the task really is Herculean. For me to give our secondary roads a full 10, that would mean that every road we have were fixed and that’s just not the case today. There’s so much more that needs to be addressed, and I believe they will be in the future.
“The DOH officials did take care of the worst ones, but there are so many more, and in some of those areas, if a motorist or a truck drive were to go off the side of those hills, they would not survive it because of how steep and high those roadways are here in Marshall County,” he continued. “Plus, a lot our roads run along the creeks we have here, and some of those roads are 30 feet above that running water. If we get a good rain, they swell up pretty good and that would not be a good situation for anyone.”
