As March brings warmer weather, the West Virginia Division of Highways (WVDOH) shifts into high gear for its highway maintenance program.
In addition to its annual core maintenance plan designed to extend the life of the Mountain State’s approximately 37,000 miles of roads (patching, ditching, canopy clearing, mowing, and keeping brush at bay), a big part of road maintenance involves the repair of slips, which occur when the ground starts to fall away under a roadway. Given West Virginia’s mountainous terrain, it shouldn’t be surprising that sometimes rock and earth come down.
Since 2021, the number of slips needing repair in the state has fallen from approximately 2,300 to 506. Living in hilly terrain, new slips and slides can occur, but catching up seemed impossible just a few short years ago.
“We purchased our own equipment to facilitate the sustainability of working on these slips and slides,” said Transportation Secretary Jimmy Wriston, P.C. “We have moved in the right direction. Sometimes it’s a small step and sometimes it’s a huge step,” he said. “After all is said and done, every individual in this organization is of immeasurable value with their service to the people of this state.”
Depending on terrain and local conditions, there are several ways the WVDOH can repair a road slip.
The most aggressive is a pile wall. Large drills are used to make holes to sink steel piles deep in the ground, which support concrete walls to keep the hillside from slipping further.
The WVDOH may also use soil nails – long steel bolts driven horizontally through a slip into bedrock – to hold back a slipping hillside. This method can be used where there are overhead power lines that preclude bringing in a drill.
The WVDOH can also make smaller micro-pile walls, install gabion baskets of stone or concrete block walls, or reinforce slipping areas with rock for smaller slips. Each slip is different, and each requires its own repair method custom-made for local conditions.
Slip repairs scheduled for this spring and summer include:
· Evans Road, Mason County.
· Teays Lane, Putnam County.
· Barron Creek Road, Kanawha County.
· Chestnut Street, Kanawha County.
· Poca River Road 1, Kanawha County.
· Poca River Road 2, Kanawha County.
· Edens Fork Road 1, Kanawha County.
· Edens Fork Road 2, Kanawha County.
· Spruce Run, Mason County.
· Pocatalico Road, Kanawha County.
· White Oak Road, Kanawha County.
· Big Sandy River Road, Wayne County.
· Rum Creek, Logan County.
· Beech Road, Calhoun County.
· Federal Ridge Road, Pleasants County.
· Vaucluse Narrows, Pleasants County.
· Pullman-Buzzard Run, Ritchie County.
· Maple Run, Roane County.
· Spring Creek-McCutcheon, Wirt County.
· Waverly-Williamstown, Wood County.
· Veterans Highway milepost 1.42, Preston County.
· Meadowbrook Road milepost 6.23, Harrison County.
· Shinnston Pike milepost 19.10, Harrison County.
· Proctor Creek Road, Wetzel County.
· Ohio County Retaining Wall, Ohio County.
· Crooked Fork Road, Braxton County.
· Sand Fork-Burnsville Road, Gilmer County.
· Bolair-Webster Springs Road, Webster County.
· Givens Run Road, Webster County.
· Chapel Road 1, Braxton County.
· Chapel Road 2, Braxton County.
· Cedar Creek Road, Gilmer County.
· Snyder Run, Lewis County.
· Little Birch Road, Braxton County.
· Frametown Road 1, Braxton County.
· Frametown Road 2, Braxton County.
· Lower Mill Run Road, Braxton County.
· Strange Creek Road 1, Braxton County.
· Strange Creek Road 2, Braxton County.
· Gassaway-Sutton Road, Braxton County.
· Normantown-Gassaway Road 1, Gilmer County.
· Normantown-Gassaway Road 2, Gilmer County.
· Friars Hill, Greenbrier County.
· Leonard Cordova, Greenbrier County.
· Meadow Creek, Summers County.
· Clear Fork Road 2, Raleigh County.
· Glen Rogers Road, Wyoming County.
· Brickyard Road, Mercer County.
· Loop Seven Highway 1, McDowell County.
· Loop Seven Highway 2, McDowell County.
· Loop Seven Highway 3, McDowell County.
· Burke Mountain Road, McDowel County.
· Franklin Street, McDowell County.
· Burke Mountain Road 3, McDowell County.
· East End Slip, Mercer County.
· North Spring Road, Wyoming County.
· Cucumber-War 1, McDowell County.
· Cucumber-War 2, McDowell County.
· Pocahontas Avenue, Mercer County.
· Princeton Avenue, Mercer County.
Counting slips is like shooting at a moving target, because one slip might be repaired and another occur just down the road. Slip repairs are prioritized by severity, amount of traffic on the highway, whether it’s an important route for school buses or emergency vehicles, and whether residents have another way in and out.
