CHARLESTON, W.Va.— West Virginia Department of Transportation Secretary Jimmy Wriston says that with all of the accomplishments the department has achieved in 2024, is a great reason to celebrate.
Jimmy Wriston
“It is a celebration; it should be a celebration. We’ve had another great year in the department of transportation and it’s fitting that we look back and talk about those things a little bit as we look toward to the future great years that are coming,” Wriston said.
In 2024, the department received 13 awards for all of the work they have done. Six of those awards were for the Wellsburg Bridge that connects Wellsburg, WV to Brilliant, OH. Wriston said that all of the awards that they received was because of the incredible teamwork throughout the department.
There were some major projects that the department took on this year, one of those being Corridor G in South Charleston.
Wriston says that this is the one project he is most proud of.
“First one that comes to mind is the R cut over in South Charleston, everybody that knows me knows that I support STEM activities for our education folks and I’m really a big proponent utilizing technology to put new ideas in place and provide efficiencies,” Wriston said. “That R cut I’m telling you was an amazing project; we saved 30 billion dollars with that concept.”
Another thing that has been a huge accomplishment for the department is the Road to Prosperity program that Governor Jim Justice launched in 2017. Despite it being launched seven years, Wriston says that it continues aiding in making West Virginia roads look better than what they were before this program.
“We were in a position, we were literally planning to decline of our roadway systems, one roadway classification at a time,” he said. “We were planning that because we had no resources to take care of it, we had no plan, we had no processes in place that weren’t completely dilapidated or outdated, we changed that, we rolled up our sleeves and we went back to our roots and started working on our core maintenance plans.”
During 2024, the DOT were able to mow 69,534 miles of road, patch potholes 26,354 miles of road and stabilize 16,204 miles of road.
Wriston says that all of the paving, moving and other work that they were able to do this was because of the workers, working together to achieve these things.
“We complement each other, that’s what partners do, when you partner with someone there’s a benefit for both parties, and that’s exactly what we’ve done,” he said.
And as the new year begins, Wriston says that they will continue working on the projects that they still have going on, as well as working with all of the new state officials that will be coming into office, one of those being Governor-elect Patrick Morrisey when he comes into office.
“We’re going to start the new year, the faces may be different, but the wonderful achievements are going to continue because we’re going to help each other to that,” Wriston said.
Photo from WVDOH website