8/25/10
Waiting for progress
Pricketts Creek, Tunnel Hollow Road project ‘100 percent go’
BY JESSICABORDERS TIMES WEST VIRGINIAN
FAIRMONT — While the West Virginia Division of Highways has voiced its commitment to repair Pricketts Creek Road and Tunnel Hollow Road off U.S. Route 310, community members are still discouraged and waiting to see progress.
Residents, local delegates and DOH officials met at the Crossroads 4-H Community Center Tuesday evening to discuss the status of the project. The roadway, which begins as Lower Pricketts and turns into Tunnel Hollow as it winds up toward Route 310 after a turnoff onto Grassy Run, was previously solid and hard with only occasional potholes.
But now, because of the harsh winter and heavy logging activity, residents must drive off the road to avoid huge potholes. People who live in the area have to deal with “floating” surfaces, ditches that are deep and dangerous, a cracked bridge, and other issues.
Residents Melissa Brodsky and Carrie Heston have served as the voice of the community for the past couple months and have brought people in the area together to work toward getting these problems solved. They have a blog, www.fixtheroad.blogspot.com, where they post updates on the project.
On Tuesday, DOH representatives Greg Phillips, deputy secretary of transportation; Mike Roncone, highway administrator; and Ray Urse, assistant maintenance engineer, provided information and answered questions from the audience.
Due to regulations that must be met, a large paving project like this generally takes six to eight months from start to finish. Phillips explained that in order to do paving, the division has to follow the proper procedures to make sure that the road is conditionally sound and will last many years.
“It’s 100 percent go,” he assured the community members, and DOH is just working to clear all the hoops right now.
The bids for reconstructing the base of the road are ready to be sent out, and companies will have four to six weeks to respond. Also in the coming weeks, the culverts should come in and the potholes should be patched, Phillips said The project includes digging ditches, replacing 18 pipes, and then a full-depth reclamation of the road, Roncone and Urse explained. As long as the weather cooperates, DOH hopes to put down tar and chip, which is less expensive than asphalt paving, in October or November, Phillips said.
“I believe this will be completed before winter,” he said.
The division is going to spend more money on Pricketts Creek and Tunnel Hollow than any other road project in the state, Phillips said. The endeavor will cost approximately $435,000.
“I’m sure that you all are going to have a beautiful road to travel on,” he said.
House Majority Whip Mike Caputo said he and fellow Marion County Delegates Tim Manchin and Linda Longstreth met with the residents of Pricketts Creek and Tunnel Hollow roads in April and recognized that they were facing a huge problem. This road was one of the worst they had seen, so they made it a priority.
The delegates convinced DOH that this road was worthy of funding and found the money for the project. Because taxpayers’ dollars are going into this project, it’s important to first make sure that the base of the road is adequate so money won’t be wasted, Caputo said.
He commented that he believes the division will in fact get the road fixed before snow starts falling.
“We support your efforts,” Caputo said.
Brodsky pointed out that the last half mile of Tunnel Hollow Road is in great need of repairs, but is not included in the project. She said the community members actually want to see all of these plans come to life and will be thankful when the road is actually fixed. The residents are frustrated because they haven’t noticed anything happening so far, Heston added. Manchin said many roads are in need of repair in the state, and unfortunately there just aren’t enough funds to take care of them all.
“We’re fortunate to be getting this kind of money spent on this project,” he said. “There was a lot of competition for this money.”
Manchin thanked the citizens for sharing their concerns and said he is confident that the necessary repairs will happen.
Caputo said the delegation is very concerned about road damage caused by heavy logging trucks and is looking at some bonding issues. In the administration right now, a lot of emphasis is being placed on the problem of logging companies destroying state roads, Manchin added.
E-mail Jessica Borders at jborders@timeswv.com.
Powered by TECNAVIA Copyright (c)2010 Times West Virginia 08/25/2010
8/23/10
Mr. Radabaugh,
While we appreciate your continued efforts to accommodate our need for road repairs, it is completely inappropriate that you send this email less than 24 hours before our community meeting, when we have very little opportunity to inform the community and prepare our questions.
In the previous email, we were a paving project not a reclamation project, before that we were a reclamation project and funding was denied, before that we were a repair project for a rainy day. We have continually been promised temporary and permanent repairs, first by as soon as possible, then by summer end, then again by fall and now with your current email it appears that we have no determinate time, which could mean years. Additionally, by sending the new request for funding yet again, our project is back to where it started- at square one…. waiting. How does that all change so quickly? We believe these responses are nothing more than glorified stall tactics.
These roads are horrendous! They are a danger to the children who are being bused through them daily, there is continual damage to resident and utility vehicles and they are a threat to everyday life by slowing Emergency personnel. This community has been more than patient while various options have been explored and rejected time and time again. The fact is there are logging and utility access roads in this community that are more safe, stable and passable than these roads that we travel daily!
Furthermore, Tunnel Hollow continues further than the .25 miles you address in this current email. There is an additional half mile of road that requires the most urgent and permanent repair. This additional half mile is the only emergency/alternative exit or entry for the entire community and the nearest emergency entry/exit for the first half of this community’s residents. Without addressing this last half mile, your project is incomplete and endangers lives. Terminating the project at .25 miles is thoroughly unacceptable to the residents of Prickett’s Creek and Tunnel Hollow Rd’s..
It seems as though you are the person with the answers and we would like the chance for the community to talk with you about the concerns this community has. We respectfully request that you personally attend this meeting, tomorrow evening, Tuesday August 24 at 5pm, to further explain these changes.
We need definitive answers and immediate action, not continual stall tactics!
Carrie Heston and Melissa Brodsky, Resident/Concerned Citizens Taking Action
Heston-Rt 4 Box 588, Prickett's Creek Rd. (CR 80)
Brodsky-Rt. 4 Box 569 B, Tunnel Hollow Rd. (CR 31/11)
Fairmont, WV 26554
304-816-3522 Heston home
304-694-1132 Heston cell
(304) 366-1420 Brodsky home
(304) 282-2260 Brodsky cell
hestonmcrkhest@aol.com
brodsmls@aol.com
www.fixtheroad.blogspot.com
While we appreciate your continued efforts to accommodate our need for road repairs, it is completely inappropriate that you send this email less than 24 hours before our community meeting, when we have very little opportunity to inform the community and prepare our questions.
In the previous email, we were a paving project not a reclamation project, before that we were a reclamation project and funding was denied, before that we were a repair project for a rainy day. We have continually been promised temporary and permanent repairs, first by as soon as possible, then by summer end, then again by fall and now with your current email it appears that we have no determinate time, which could mean years. Additionally, by sending the new request for funding yet again, our project is back to where it started- at square one…. waiting. How does that all change so quickly? We believe these responses are nothing more than glorified stall tactics.
These roads are horrendous! They are a danger to the children who are being bused through them daily, there is continual damage to resident and utility vehicles and they are a threat to everyday life by slowing Emergency personnel. This community has been more than patient while various options have been explored and rejected time and time again. The fact is there are logging and utility access roads in this community that are more safe, stable and passable than these roads that we travel daily!
Furthermore, Tunnel Hollow continues further than the .25 miles you address in this current email. There is an additional half mile of road that requires the most urgent and permanent repair. This additional half mile is the only emergency/alternative exit or entry for the entire community and the nearest emergency entry/exit for the first half of this community’s residents. Without addressing this last half mile, your project is incomplete and endangers lives. Terminating the project at .25 miles is thoroughly unacceptable to the residents of Prickett’s Creek and Tunnel Hollow Rd’s..
It seems as though you are the person with the answers and we would like the chance for the community to talk with you about the concerns this community has. We respectfully request that you personally attend this meeting, tomorrow evening, Tuesday August 24 at 5pm, to further explain these changes.
We need definitive answers and immediate action, not continual stall tactics!
Carrie Heston and Melissa Brodsky, Resident/Concerned Citizens Taking Action
Heston-Rt 4 Box 588, Prickett's Creek Rd. (CR 80)
Brodsky-Rt. 4 Box 569 B, Tunnel Hollow Rd. (CR 31/11)
Fairmont, WV 26554
304-816-3522 Heston home
304-694-1132 Heston cell
(304) 366-1420 Brodsky home
(304) 282-2260 Brodsky cell
hestonmcrkhest@aol.com
brodsmls@aol.com
www.fixtheroad.blogspot.com
To all,
After revisiting the site again approximately 2 weeks ago and verifying the conditions of the subject roads to ensure we are utilizing our dollars most effectively, we plan to request funding to make the following improvements:
CO 80 Prickett’s Creek Road: Beginning at CO 80/2, Grassy Run and terminating at CO 31/11, Tunnel Hollow Road
CO 31/11 Tunnel Hollow Road: Beginning at CO 80, Pricketts Creek Road and terminating 0.25 miles southwest of CO 80, Pricketts Creek Road
1. Perform ditching and replace culverts as needed with WVDOH personnel
2. Perform full depth reclamation (cement stabilization) with Contract personnel
3. Seal the full depth reclamation with a double surface treatment with WVDOH personnel
We were originally concerned that we would not be able to get the specifications together quickly enough to get a contract out for full depth reclamation this fall due to this being the first project WVDOH has utilized this technology on. We now have commitments from the involved personnel that this can be addressed soon and we have gathered the field data necessary to assemble the contract documents. The method described above get the work done in the most cost effective manner possible without being too detrimental to our workload with WVDOH personnel and ensuring that the base under the road is sufficient to handle the loads that it will see. The documents to request funding for the above described work will be submitted to Central Office this week.
Thanks
Bryan Radabaugh
After revisiting the site again approximately 2 weeks ago and verifying the conditions of the subject roads to ensure we are utilizing our dollars most effectively, we plan to request funding to make the following improvements:
CO 80 Prickett’s Creek Road: Beginning at CO 80/2, Grassy Run and terminating at CO 31/11, Tunnel Hollow Road
CO 31/11 Tunnel Hollow Road: Beginning at CO 80, Pricketts Creek Road and terminating 0.25 miles southwest of CO 80, Pricketts Creek Road
1. Perform ditching and replace culverts as needed with WVDOH personnel
2. Perform full depth reclamation (cement stabilization) with Contract personnel
3. Seal the full depth reclamation with a double surface treatment with WVDOH personnel
We were originally concerned that we would not be able to get the specifications together quickly enough to get a contract out for full depth reclamation this fall due to this being the first project WVDOH has utilized this technology on. We now have commitments from the involved personnel that this can be addressed soon and we have gathered the field data necessary to assemble the contract documents. The method described above get the work done in the most cost effective manner possible without being too detrimental to our workload with WVDOH personnel and ensuring that the base under the road is sufficient to handle the loads that it will see. The documents to request funding for the above described work will be submitted to Central Office this week.
Thanks
Bryan Radabaugh
8/18/10
-----Original Message-----
From: hestonmcrkhest@aol.com
To: BrodsMls@aol.com; llongstreth43@aol.com; michael.j.roncone@wv.gov; mikeumwa@aol.com; tmanchin@manchin-aloi.com; greg.w.phillips@wv.gov
Sent: Wed, Jul 7, 2010 3:46 pm
Subject: Pricketts Creek and Tunnell Hollow Road.
Hi All!
I know that you are all tired of hearing from me but once again it has been a couple of weeks with nothing happening or our community hearing from anyone. This community has been very understanding to this point. Most of us understand that things such as the condition of this road takes time to fix. When we held the community meeting way back, we were told that when spring got here and school was out that something would be done. To this point we have not even seen gravel except what has been put in the holes by the residents. Then as the next slap in the face came, the paving of Winfield and up to the intersection of Bunners Ridge, we took that in stride. Now, just last week, there were repairs made to the area between "Poes Corner" and Grassy Run. We were holding our breathe that we would see something this week as time has went by, but yet another slap in the face again today. They patched a hole that is on lower Pricketts Creek road and then went up Grassy Run with hot patch. ONE HOLE! I understand that we are not canidates for hot patch. I understand that we need a new base. I understand that all this takes money but the holes on the other roads can wait. They ARE passable to ambulance, fire vechiles and standard traffic. Our resedents are busting axles, tires, struts and that is just going around the holes as best as we can. Yes, we all know where the holes are but going off the road to avoid them is not an option any longer. This road and its condition is a disgrace to the county and the state. It is very sad that this community who has offered to help cannot get any help. We have waited patiently and with not avail. What are we suppose to do? Are all the people in the community just to be counted out? Why do other residents get the smallest inconviences taken care of and we dont even get gravel?
What can we do to get this project moving? We were told to wait, and we have. We were told to be patient and we have. We are asking again for the hundredth time....We need some temporary relief. We need a road that we can travel to and from home on and be safe.
Respectfully,
Carrie Heston
Resident/ Concerned Citizen Taking Action
Rt 4 Box 588
Fairmont, WV 26554
304-694-9681 home
304-694-1132 cell
hestonmcrkhest@aol.com
http://fixtheroad.blogspot.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fwd: Pricketts Creek and Tunnell Hollow Road. mikeumwa to you (cc), Greg.W.Phillips, brodsmls - Jul 7More Details
From: mikeumwa
To: Greg.W.Phillips
Cc: brodsmls
Date:Wed, Jul 7, 2010 6:47 pm
greg,
the letter says it all. these folks are getting very frustrated and we understand that. can we please give them some answers.
we know how busy doh is right now and that funding is extremly tight but as you know this road is horrible. would you please give us an update?
thanks,
mike, tim & linda
RE: Pricketts Creek and Tunnell Hollow Road. Roncone, Michael J to you (cc), mikeumwa, BrodsMls, llongstreth43, tmanchin, Phillips, Greg W, Radabaugh, Bryan L, Pifer, Jeff M, Urse, Ray A - Jul 8More Details
From: Roncone, Michael J
To: mikeumwa
Cc: hestonmcrkhest
Date:Thu, Jul 8, 2010 4:38 pm
Mike
To bring you up to date with this project on Upper Pricketts Creek Road here are the details. Our design engineers are trying to put together the project we discussed with the Full Depth Reclamation to reconstruct the base for this road and then surface treat it. Bryan Radabaugh at our District 4 office has a commitment from central office in Charleston to make this a test project but the contractors involved were unable to "donate" enough of the work to justify doing this without bidding it out competitively. Once we are able to get the specifications in place we will be assembling a bid package and advertise this, unfortunately it may be next spring before we can get this done but it will be a more permanent fix. In the mean time to give the folks on this road some long overdue relief, we will send a grader in to scarify (break up the pavement) in the worst areas and put down gravel to make for a smoother ride. I know this is not going to be accepted as well as I hoped but this is all we can do at this time to make conditions a little better and justify our cost and time.
Our crews have patched holes on adjoining roads to Upper Pricketts Creek Road as we routinely do every year by our maintenance standards and priority. A part of Bunners Ridge Road was paved as a result of a paving request submitted over a year and a half ago. This road was in very bad shape and has quite a high ADT (Average Daily Traffic). Paving was halted in the state a year ago when the country was engulfed in financial instability and backed up the paving jobs.
If I can be of further assistance please let me know. I would be more than willing to meet with you and the residents if I can be of any help.
Thanks
Mike Roncone
Re: Pricketts Creek and Tunnell Hollow Road. mikeumwa to you (cc), Michael.J.Roncone, BrodsMls, llongstreth43, tmanchin, Greg.W.Phillips, Bryan.L.Radabaugh, Jeff.M.Pifer, Ray.A.Urse - Jul 8More Details
From: mikeumwa
To Michael.J.Roncone
Cc: hestonmcrkhest
Date:Thu, Jul 8, 2010 5:14 pm
thank you mike for the update. this is not what we hoped for but we need to get out there asap and do what we can now. also, i have a call into the governor on behalf of tim, linda and i to see if there is any way to "speed up" the process. the residents have been more than patient and we are going to do all we can to move this along. also, if you meet with the residents again please let us know
thanks,
mike c
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RE: Pricketts Creek and Tunnell Hollow Road. Timothy Manchin to you (cc), Roncone, Michael J, mikeumwa, BrodsMls, llongstreth43, Phillips, Greg W, Radabaugh, Bryan L, Pifer, Jeff M, Urse, Ray A - Jul 12More Details
From: Timothy Manchin
To: Roncone, Michael J
Cc: hestonmcrkhest
Date:Mon, Jul 12, 2010 7:04 pm
Considering all of this I think we need to get together out there to discuss what we will be able to do short term
RE: Pricketts Creek and Tunnell Hollow Road. Roncone, Michael J to you (cc), Timothy Manchin, mikeumwa, Llongstreth43, Phillips, Greg W, Radabaugh, Bryan L, Pifer, Jeff M, Urse, Ray A, BrodsMls - Jul 13More Details
From: Roncone, Michael J
Cc: hestonmcrkhest
Date:Tue, Jul 13, 2010 6:39 am
To All:
Yesterday July 12th, I sent the road grader along with a dump truck and flaggers to work the worst areas of the road by scarifying (chew up the bad pavement) and mixing stone in these areas to give some stabilization to the road. This is only a temporary adjustment as we wait for word on the Full Depth Reclamation Project that the District has recommended to Charleston. What we are performing on this road right now would be the most cost effective way to give the folks of this area some long overdue relief. I will try to keep the work going out there but may have to stop for a few days from time to time in order to allow my crews to work on other pressing matters elsewhere. If anyone would like to meet out on sight to get a firsthand knowledge of the operations we are doing, please call me on my cell phone at 304-626-5472.
Thanks
Mike Roncone
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RE: Pricketts Creek and Tunnell Hollow Road. Radabaugh, Bryan L to you (cc), Timothy Manchin, Roncone, Michael J, mikeumwa, BrodsMls, llongstreth43, Phillips, Greg W, Pifer, Jeff M, Urse, Ray A - Jul 13More Details
From:
Radabaugh, Bryan L
To: Timothy Manchin
Cc: hestonmcrkhest
Date:Tue, Jul 13, 2010 5:06 pm
Everyone,
I would like to update everyone as to where we are currently with the potential correcting of the subject road. When we initially looked at this road, we felt it would be an ideal candidate for a technology that has not yet been utilized by WVDOH. This method is full depth reclamation and involves scarifying the existing subgrade and strengthening it with cement. We initially contacted a contractor and several suppliers with the hope to be able to utilize this road as a test project. Unfortunately, due to the type of work involved the involved parties were not able to contribute enough resources to do this as a test project without bidding it out. After this was determined, we began looking at developing the needed specifications and requirements to bid the work out competitively. To allow adequate time to develop the appropriate specifications and plans necessary to bid this and for the time needed to advertise and let this to contract, it was not felt we could get this work completed by this fall. We felt it could be advertised and let but would likely not have enough time to construct. Based on this conclusion, we determined it would be best to request discretionary funding and approval to proceed with a purchase order paving project for this fall. Per discussion with our State Highway Engineer, we have been given the go ahead to proceed in this manner. Although we felt this road was an ideal candidate for the full depth reclamation and were hopeful that we could utilize, we will move forward with correcting the roadway with a paving project.
Mike/Ray,
Please cease the repair activities that were began on the roadway to give us time to reevaluate. This repair method will require that we address the current base failures differently. Once you all have a chance to discuss, let me know if we need to discuss further what all we should do prior to the purchase order contract.
Thanks
Bryan Radabaugh
WVDOT – Division of Highways
District 4 Design Engineer
304-669-0599
Re: Pricketts Creek and Tunnell Hollow Road. mikeumwa to you (cc), Bryan.L.Radabaugh, tmanchin, Michael.J.Roncone, BrodsMls, llongstreth43, Greg.W.Phillips, Jeff.M.Pifer, Ray.A.Urse - Jul 13More Details
From: mikeumwa
To: Bryan.L.Radabaugh
Cc: hestonmcrkhest
Date:Tue, Jul 13, 2010 7:57 pm
thank you bryan. i know everyone really, really appreciates that. we would also like to thank everyone who helped move this along. and we also want to thank the residents, it has been very frustrating at times but you all have been great to work with.
mike, tim & linda
-----Original Message-----
From: hestonmcrkhest@aol.com
To: mikeumwa@aol.com; greg.w.phillips@wv.gov; tmanchin@manchin-aloi.com; mikeumwa@aol.com; michael.j.roncone@wv.gov; llongstreth43@aol.com
Sent: Wed, Jul 14, 2010 6:51 am
Subject: Re: Pricketts Creek and Tunnell Hollow Road.
Hi ALL!
This letter is what the residents have been praying for. We would like to take the time to thank each and everyone of you that have helped this come to light! Thanks for working with us and listening when you could of just blew us off. We look forward to seeing the work begin! As before, if you would like us to set up a meeting and give this information we can do that. The residents should really hear this GREAT news from the people that made it happen unless you want us to pass the word!
Respectfully,
Carrie Heston
Resident/ Concerned Citizen Taking Action
Rt 4 Box 588
Fairmont, WV 26554
304-694-9681 home
304-694-1132 cell
hestonmcrkhest@aol.com
http://fixtheroad.blogspot.com
Re: Pricketts Creek and Tunnell Hollow Road. mikeumwa to you, Llongstreth43, tmanchin - Jul 14More Details
From: mikeumwa
To: hestonmcrkhest
Date:Wed, Jul 14, 2010 8:53 am
carrie,
i will be out of town from the16th - 30th. and tim and linda will be in session next week (don't know for how long yet) so if you could spread the word for us that would be great!
if you want us to come out later, we would be happy to. also, i'm sure mike or someone from DOH could come out for a community meeting if you would like, just give him a call.
in closing, please tell everyone that we were happy to work with such a great group of people and we are soooooooooooooo glad that things worked out!
keep us posted.
mike, tim & linda
Original Message-----
From: hestonmcrkhest@aol.com [mailto:hestonmcrkhest@aol.com]
Sent: Monday, July 12, 2010 8:21 AM
To: Governor
Subject: Contact the Governor
Subject: Roads
Dear Governor
The Upper Pricketts Creek Community would like to meet with you concerning our road conditions and the plans of the DOH and funding for this road. We were told back in May that we would receive temporary help when school was over. To this day, we still have NO relief. We were told as of Friday that we would not be getting a road until at least next spring. This communities roads are unsafe. If there was a fire or other emergency, it would take forever for help to arrive. We have pictures as well as a video of the road. We are requesting that we can have a meeting with you. It would be about 2 or 3 that represent the community.
Thanks for your help and time,
Carrie Heston
Resident/ Concerned Citizen Taking Action Rt 4 Box 588 Fairmont, WV 26554
304-694-9681 home
304-694-1132 cell
hestonmcrkhest@aol.com
http://fixtheroad.blogspot.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RE: Roads Hughes, Sasha D to you - Jul 14More Details
From: Hughes, Sasha D
To: hestonmcrkhest
DateWed, Jul 14, 2010 2:24 pm
Dear Ms. Heston:
Governor Joe Manchin III has forwarded your e-mail regarding the community’s concerns with Prickett’s Creek Road, CR 80, in Marion County, to the Division of Highways for reply.
Mr. Steven B. Cole, P. E., our Deputy State Highway Engineer – Operations, would be happy to meet with you and other members of the community at our office here at the Capitol Complex in Charleston to discuss these concerns. Please contact me at either the e-mail address or telephone number listed below so that we may work out a date and time for this meeting.
Thank you for e-mailing and sharing your concerns. I look forward to hearing from you in the near future.
Sincerely,
Sasha D. Hughes
Administrative Secretary to the
Deputy State Highway Engineers
West Virginia Department of Transportation
Division of Highways
(304) 558-9212
sasha.d.hughes@wv.gov
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)