The DOH complains of not having enough money to maintain the roads in the state, or to build the new ones we need. That is nothing new or for that matter normal for any government department in any government. At the US 50 Association meeting held in Petersburg Wednesday the discussion turned to getting the funding to make improvements.
The ultimate goal of the group is to get US 50 upgraded to 4-lanes from the Virginia state line to I-79 at Clarksburg. This remains the only 2-lane section of US 50 from Ocean City, MD to well into Ohio. The cost for the complete upgrade is estimated at 2 Billion Dollars, but that is because of a WVDOH policy. They have a policy that states all new 4-lane roads are to be built on all new alignments, basically use nothing of the old road. In Virginia US 50 was upgraded to 4-lanes by using the original 2-lane as one half. This cost on average about 70% of building on all new alignments. Now this would turn the WV project from a 2 Billion project into a 1.4 Billion project. Last time a checked six hundred million was a nice savings.
Lets face it, even at 1.4 Billion the US 50 project is a long ways off. But it does bring up the question; of all the projects around the state a change in policy could build current 4-lane projects cheaper. This would free up a lot of money for other road improvement projects in the state, allow more 4-lanes to be built in any given year, or build the same and lower the gas tax. All or any would help the states economy.
Government agencies concentrate too much on increasing funding, and not enough of saving money. Ben Franklin had it right, a penny saved is a penny earned. That penny of course is a tax penny that belongs to you and me, so we should insist it be saved.
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