What about the roads?

Governor Tomblin’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Highways at last releases its final report later today… nearly three years after Tomblin issued an executive order creating the commission.

After that long, this document should be a literary masterpiece.

There were a couple reasons for the delay. First, Tomblin didn’t want to release the report during an election year for fear it would become a political football. Second, the administration and the commission were holding out hope Congress would finally agree on a federal highway program. And finally the actual work of the commission had to be come, of course.

The election is behind us now, but Washington has yet to agree on a comprehensive highway funding bill.  The current temporary extension expires this month and Congress is poised to pass another temporary extension.

So now, at last, the proposed fix for West Virginia’s pockmarked roads becomes public.

If the report follows the preliminary findings that have already been released, it will contain good news and bad news.  The good news will be there is a way forward to fix the roads; the bad news will probably be that it cannot be accomplished on the cheap.

An earlier report by the committee determined the highway budget would have to double to more than $2 billion a year for the next 20 to 25 years to preserve and improve the state’s existing roads and bridges and pay for needed new and expanded highways.

The Legislature this year authorized a comprehensive audit of the Division of Highways.  That should reveal some savings and efficiencies, but the amount of money to do the kind of work necessary will have to be found elsewhere.

The options include, but are not limited to, higher gasoline taxes, an increase in taxes and fees associated with vehicle purchases and licensing, more toll roads, a massive bond issue financed by West Virginia Turnpike tolls and empowering counties to raise taxes to finance their own road construction.

Each of those options carries with it some pain, and perhaps there are better options, but nothing of significance can be reasonably accomplished without additional revenue.  Just yesterday, TRIP (a national transportation research group) released a national report on rural road conditions in America. West Virginia had the sixth worst with 29 percent in poor condition.

The real challenge after the Blue Ribbon Commission report is released today will be finding the political will to take the necessary steps.   This is Governor Tomblin’s commission and he should take the lead, but Legislative leaders need to step up as well.

That’s going to be a challenge since the next legislative session comes in an election year.

However, lawmakers returned home from this past session only to hear constituents ask over and over, “What about the roads?”

That’s a question that deserves an honest answer and a workable solution.

 

 





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