CHARLESTON, WV (LOOTPRESS) – January to December 2024 was a busy year for the West Virginia Department of Transportation (WVDOT).
In 2024, in line with the WVDOT’s return to a philosophy of maintaining existing roadways in the best condition possible, the organization completed ditching along 10,550 miles of the state’s approximately 36,000 miles of roadway. Ditching is an important component in keeping water off of pavement and preventing cracking and the development of potholes.
“Several years ago, we went back to our roots,” said Transportation Secretary Jimmy Wriston, P.E. “We just continue to improve in transparency and the accountability. To be able to tell you how many miles we’ve paved, how many potholes we patched, how many acres of canopy clearing we accomplished – that’s new.”
During 2024, WVDOT road crews mowed along 69,534 miles. Like ditching, mowing helps keep water off of roads and provides better sight distances to increase safety for drivers.
The organization also patched potholes along 26,354 miles of road. Properly done patching extends the life of a highway until it’s time to repave the surface of the road.
The WVDOT also stabilized 16,203 miles of gravel road, which includes grading, improving the surface, and filling holes. With a large number of gravel roads in the Mountain State, it’s just as important to keep gravel roads in the best shape possible as it is to maintain paved roads.
Between November 2023 and May 2024, WVDOT crews cut trees and branches along 573 acres of roadside. This activity can only be done during the winter months, when bats aren’t holing up in trees. Keeping trees and branches from overhanging the road allows sunlight in to dry wet road surfaces and extends the life of pavement.
During the calendar year the WVDOT also paved 1,170 miles of road, including 240 paved by WVDOT road crews. Gov. Jim Justice’s Roads to Prosperity program and supplemental budget appropriations approved by the state Legislature have allowed the WVDOT to pave unprecedented numbers of roads over the past five years.
“We’ve paved more roads than we’ve paved in our entire history,” Wriston said.
Contractors and WVDOT road crews also repaired more than 16,000 linear feet of slips and slides during the year. Slips – where the earth falls away beneath a road – and slides – where earth and rock fall onto a road – are a big problem for motorists. The WVDOT is constantly juggling repairing existing slips and slides and addressing newly occurring slips and slides, but uses a data-driven approach to make repairs as quickly as possible. Since 2021, the number of slips needing repair in the state has fallen from approximately 2,300 to approximately 500.
“Gov. Justice told me the other day, he said, ‘We’ve done the impossible,’” Wriston said. “It’s quality work, and we did it the right way.”
The WVDOT also completed several important projects in 2024, including the four-mile Scott Miller Hill Bypass in Roane County, the new Donald M. Legg Memorial Bridge and six-lane widening of Interstate 64 in Kanawha County, and opening of the completely rebuilt Beckley Travel Plaza on the West Virginia Turnpike.
The WVDOT looks forward to doing even more in 2025.
The 2024 calendar year was also an award-winning time for the WVDOT. During the calendar year, the WVDOT won no fewer than 13 regional and national awards, many of them for the iconic Wellsburg Bridge project in Brooke County.
The Wellsburg Bridge, which opened in September 2023, received national and international attention for its unique construction method. Contractors Flatiron Construction built the 830-foot main span of the bridge on the banks of the Ohio River, then floated it into place downstream and jacked it up onto its pilings in a 13-hour operation in April 2021. It was the largest bridge float and bridge lift in North America.
The bridge connects the communities of Wellsburg, West Virginia, and Brilliant, Ohio, turning what used to be a half-hour commute between the two towns to mere minutes. An estimated 2,500 people attended the grand opening of the bridge on Wednesday, September 21, 2023.
“I don’t remember, ever, the WVDOT winning national and regional awards,” Wriston said. “It makes you proud to work with all these great people that are in the organization, and all those great partners that we’ve cultivated all across the region and all across the country over this past year. We’re a player, We have some status.”
The Wellsburg Bridge won a total of six national awards in 2024, including:
- 2024 American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) Diamond Award.
- 2024 ACEC Engineering Excellence Award.
- Engineering News-Record Mid-Atlantic Regional 2024 Best Projects Award.
- 2024 American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) “America’s Transportation Award” for best use of technology.
- 2024 AASHTO “America’s Transportation Award” People’s Choice.
- 2024 AASHTO Committee on Communications Skills Award for the WVDOT Public Relations Division for opening event celebrating the Wellsburg Bridge.
Other awards the WVDOT took home in 2024 include:
- 2024 AASHTO “America’s Transportation Award” for Quality of Life and Community Development for replacing the Grant Street Bridge in Bluefield and reuniting a separated community.
- 2024 AASHTO “America’s Transportation Award” for Safety for the US 340 Rockfall Mitigation Project removing dangerous rocks from high above US 340 near Harpers Ferry.
- Asphalt Pavement Alliance Perpetual Pavement Award By Design for the four-lane upgrade of US 35.
- Asphalt Pavement Alliance Perpetual Pavement Award by Performance for a section of US 250 in Barbour County.
- Asphalt Pavement Alliance Perpetual Pavement Award by Conversion for a section of Interstate 64 converted from concrete to asphalt in Greenbrier County. The awards recognize paving jobs of the highest standards that are expected to last almost indefinitely.
- Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) Certificate of Achievement to the WVDOT Finance Division for Excellence in Financial Reporting.
- Encova Insurance award for reduced injuries in the workplace, increase in return-to-work activity, and timely reporting.
