West Virginia Governor Jim Justice pushes $2.4B roads plan in Wheeling

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice touted his $2.4 billion plan to fix West Virginia’s crumbling roads and bridges during a stop in downtown Wheeling Tuesday afternoon. His remarks came inside a heated tent pitched along Main Street under the Interstate 70 Fort Henry Bridge.

Justice is seeking tax revenue to invest in bonds that would be leveraged into an immediate $2.4 billion to improve the state’s highways and bridges. To help raise the needed revenue, he has proposed increasing the state’s annual vehicle registration fee from $30 to $50, raising West Virginia’s gasoline tax and allowing residents the option of paying a yearly $8 flat fee to drive on the state’s toll roads.

He also has suggested increases in West Virginia’s taxes on cigarettes and sugary drinks, upping the state’s sales tax from 6 percent to 6.25 percent, and implementing a commercial activities tax on businesses.

The end result could mean an immediate 48,000 jobs for the state, Justice said.

“There’s no question that there are a lot of things you’re doing right here that are a lot of good things,” he told those present. “In all honesty, there’s a lot of things you’re doing here that Charleston doesn’t have a clue how you’re doing it, and they ought to be looking at your playbook and studying your playbook. But they’re not.”

Because local government entities may be managing affairs properly, residents may be blind to how bad the overall economic outlook is in West Virginia, Justice said. He said he didn’t realize the state’s dire economic condition until he took over as governor.

“I thought I knew, but I didn’t,” he said. “It’s bad. And I don’t blow smoke up anybody’s behind. I don’t have time to do it. … I’m just a person who’s going to tell you like it is — and if you don’t think it’s bad, you’re a lunatic.”

West Virginia Secretary of Transportation Tom Smith was present, and in comments after Justice’s speech he said he drove the 14 bridges along Interstate 70 in Ohio County on his way to the event.

“They’re really in terrible shape,” he said. “If you go out and look, you’ll see crumbling concrete and we need to get to those as quickly as we can.”

The project would entail deck replacement and painting of the bridges to extend their lifespans, Smith said.

Other projects on the list include $80 million to widen W.Va. 2 from Proctor to Kent to four lanes, and a separate $30 million project to extend the four-lane road from Kent to Franklin. Another project in Hancock County would widen W.Va. 2 through New Cumberland at a price tag of $10.5 million.

What isn’t on the DOH’s list of needed projects in the extension of Interstate 68 from Monongalia County to Marshall County. Justice said additional projects always could be added to the list if needed.

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