Published: July 08, 2009 07:39 pm      

Report: $5B needed for W.Va. roads by 2019

SOUTH CHARLESTON (AP) — West Virginia will need to find nearly $5 billion over the next 10 years to maintain roads and bridges that are already “among the deadliest in the nation,” according to a report released Wednesday.

TRIP, a nonprofit, Washington, D.C.-based transportation research group, unveiled the report at a highway construction project in South Charleston to draw attention to what it calls an issue vital to the safety and economic vitality of the state.

The report found that 8 percent of the state’s roads are in poor condition, and another 29 percent are in mediocre condition. On top of that, 15 percent of bridges 20 feet or longer are classed as “structurally deficient” and another 22 percent are “functionally obsolete.”

Those terms don’t necessarily mean the bridges are unsafe, just that they need more attention and maintenance work than spans in better condition built according to modern standards.

The poor condition of the roads and bridges may play a role in the state’s high traffic fatality rate, the report argues.

Based on federal data, the report found that from 2003 to 2007, West Virginia had a rate of 2.1 fatalities per 100 million miles of travel, the third highest rate in the country.

It all adds up to a portrait of “a transportation system that is deteriorated and insufficient,” said Carolyn Bonifas, TRIP’s associate research director.

“We just are not putting enough resources into our transportation system,” said Joe Deneault, chairman of West Virginians for Better Transportation.

Deneault’s group, an umbrella organization with roughly 250 members ranging from chambers of commerce to businesses and civic groups, has been pushing for changes in the way West Virginia pays for its roads. It says a growing demand of deferred maintenance is endangering the state’s economic stability.

Citing estimates by the state Department of Transportation, the report says the state needs $9.75 billion between now and 2018 to improve roads and bridges, but can identify only about $5 billion worth of funding.

A call to the department was not immediately returned Wednesday.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, commonly known as the federal stimulus plan, includes $211 million for roads and bridge improvements in West Virginia, a figure Bonifas said is inadequate to meet all the state’s needs.

“This funding can serve as a down payment on needed road, highway, bridge and transit improvements,” the report says, “but it is still not sufficient to allow the state to proceed with numerous projects needed to modernize its surface transportation system.”

Finding $5 billion will not be easy, though, and any attempt to do so will likely involve politically unpopular options such as higher taxes or new fees on drivers.

Deneault, who joined Bonifas at the unveiling of the report, said his group isn’t lobbying for any particular solution, but mentioned higher license and registration fees, new tolls and changes to the state’s automobile privilege tax as possibilities.

“Bottom line, we just have to find a mechanism to raise these resources,” he said. “Not everyone’s going to be 100 percent happy.”