In The News

Commercial truck traffic on West Virginia Turnpike up 15 percent

BECKLEY, W. Va. — Good news was bountiful Thursday at a meeting of the West Virginia Parkways Authority.

First, Turnpike Manager Greg Barr announced that there had been a 15 percent boost in commercial truck traffic on the turnpike.

Then, the authority heard from a consulting engineer that 90 percent of the turnpike should be considered in “good” condition as a result of work scheduled over the next 10 years.

Barr also announced that $3.7 million more in toll revenues had been collected than traffic engineers counted on before higher tolls were imposed last Aug. 1.

“There’s been a warming of the economy a little bit,” Barr said Thursday after committees of the West Virginia Parkways Authority met to map strategy for the full board’s monthly meeting May 6.

Compared to March a year ago, tractor-trailer transactions on the turnpike were up 19.85 percent, Barr pointed out, noting that 98,000 more drivers paid fares. Passenger cars increased in the same month by almost 2 percent, meaning there were 37,000 more using the toll road.

“If you go back to the first of the year, January through March, trucks were up 14.5 percent, while cars were down about 4.8 percent, but trucks were making up for the revenue,” he said.

Most of the turnpike is expected to be a smoother ride within the next decade as more than $180 million worth of improvements are completed.

Sixty percent of the 88-mile toll highway between Charleston and Princeton is now considered "fair to poor."

Consulting engineer Randy Epperly says 90 percent of the turnpike should improve to "good" in nine to 10 years.

Epperly said Thursday that the turnpike needs $167 million worth of improvements. That's down from $183 million a year ago when the overhaul effort began.

Epperly provided a five-year projection of highway needs that included $19 million in overlays, $6.1 million in bridge overlays, $18.4 million worth of bridge painting, $4.6 million in guardrails, $500,000 in slopes, $55,000 in signing, $6.18 million in highway markings, $9.7 million in full depth pavement repairs and $600,000 in a maintenance management system.

Work is expected to start soon on a paving project north of the Beckley exit.

By the time this year’s work is completed, the 40 percent of “good” roadway should climb to around 47 percent, he said.

“Every year, that should continue to climb to where in the next eight to nine years we’re up to around 90 percent in good shape,” Epperly said.

“As we move forward over the next 10 years, this number is going to be changing significantly as we put more and more money into the program on paving. Until we can get all the concrete pavement covered over, it’s still going to continue to be rough. So it’s going to take a while to address all those needs.”

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