CHARLESTON, W.Va. — After a summer of heavy rains left some roads in Kanawha County damaged or destroyed, the Kanawha County Commission is proposing an initiative to help repair roadways not belonging to cities or the state.
The commission invited Kanawha County legislators to its meeting Thursday to hear its proposal for a “neighbors helping neighbors” program to assist Kanawha County residents with fixing orphan roads and crossings.
The roads do not fall under the responsibility of local or state governments. When these roadways are damaged, private property owners are responsible for related construction work and costs.
Under the proposed grant program, residents in an affected area would have to match state funding with money, volunteer labor, donated supplies or professional services in order to complete the project.
Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper said school buses and emergency service vehicles will not travel on these broken roads for safety reasons.
“Some of these so-called private roads are no different than the roads right next to them that the state adopted,” he said. “There’s a state code that allows for the adoption. Where is the political will to help people? Shouldn’t there be an exception made if someone is trapped? Children can’t get on a school bus?”
Rick Hodgdon, of South Charleston, owns 75 acres of property on Howards Fork in Cross Lanes, but the main road to the area was destroyed this summer. He said residents are able to drive to their homes using a nearby road near a storage unit facility, but he fears that road will soon be unusable.
According to Hodgdon, some residents are taking loans on their 401(k)s to pay for the needed repairs to Howards Fork.
“I don’t think it’s going really well. Some of the people have just come and said, ‘I don’t have a penny,'” he said.
Howards Forks, Pleasants Drive and Maplewood Lane in Cross Lanes were mentioned in the meeting as orphan roads outside of city or state control
“You have a big flood issue and it wipes out the community, sometimes the state or the federal government will take care of these crossings. But then, if you’re in an area that gets a small flash flood, you’re sunk,” Carper said.
The lawmakers present for the meeting included Sens. Ed Gaunch and Tom Takubo, both R-Kanawha, and Democratic Sen. Corey Palumbo. Delegates at the meeting were Republicans Charlotte Lane, Dianna Graves, Sharon Malcolm and Democrats Mike Pushkin and Andrew Robinson.
Carper said Sen. Glenn Jeffries, D-Putnam, was unable to attend the meeting but is aware of the proposal.