Aero-Mark Inc., a contractor with The W.Va. Division of Highways, painted over potholes on Jakes Run Road.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Residents of the Jakes Run and Miracle run areas report that the Division of Highways (DOH) has painted road stripes right through the potholes.
“To me it is a waste of money, when the potholes need patched before the lines need painted,” said Jakes Run resident Raymond Bane.
Sen. Kent Leonhardt, vice chair of the state Senate Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and a Western Mon resident, said, “It strikes me as pretty stupid.”
He called it an institutional problem: It’s always been done that way. But the way they’re doing it isn’t working. And changing that kind of mindset isn’t easy.
DOH spokeswoman Carrie Bly said the problem stems from the way contracts are awarded. “The striping contracts are usually let way before we start our paving and patching, and often we don’t get to the paving and patching” until after the striping is done. “Unfortunately this happens, and we recognize that’s definitely a place we can improve…