The West Virginia Division of Highways (WVDOH) is using its own paving machines and paving crews to repave a six-mile stretch of Poca River Road in Putnam County.
The paving job one of many paving projects being done all over the Mountain State as part of a statewide paving and road maintenance program. |
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This year’s WVDOH paving schedule includes $195 million in federal highway funding. That money includes $75 million to pave about 170 miles of two-lane state and US routes and another $120 million or so to pave more than 45 miles of interstates and expressways.
In addition, the WVDOH has budgeted $25 million in state funds to pave approximately 250 miles of secondary roads.
“With our spring patching operation now done, it’s the time of year that we move to resurfacing roadways all over West Virginia,” said Joe Pack, P.E., WVDOH Chief Engineer of District Operations.
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In 2017, Mountain State voters approved massive bond sales to support Gov. Jim Justice’s $2.8 billion Roads to Prosperity road construction and maintenance program. Roads to Prosperity and Gov. Justice’s emphasis on secondary road maintenance has provided the WVDOH with previously unheard-of levels of funding to build new roads and maintain existing roads.
Paving crews are members of WVDOH District 1’s District Force, or DisForce. Each of the WVDOH’s 10 highway districts has its own DisForce crews to take on special jobs like paving.
West Virginia’s massive road construction and paving program created such a demand on the paving industry that the WVDOH invested in its own paving machines. DisForce paving allows the WVDOH to pave roads that contractors might not be able to get to in one season, particularly in rural areas of the state.
“Our own crews are another resource in the paving industry during this unprecedented opportunity to resurface more of our roadways,” Pack said.
