8th worst Roads in US, soon to be blamed on the Teachers

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West Virginia Teachers Chatboard

8th worst Roads in US, soon to be blamed on the Teachers

by biggame

Mar 18, 2010

New press release, we have the 8th worst roads in the Country. Hmmm, is King Joe going to run to the Head of the Department of Highways and demand they fire all the state road workers? No, I'm sure he won't. but that’s what he wants Dr. Paine to do. Just a thought if we had better roads, maybe we could attract some jobs that college educated people wanted to do instead of supplying commuters on the Hillybilly Highway out of the state.

MOJO needs to stop his public attack on the State School System and start working with the teachers to work on change. Knowing several teachers, they are frustrated as he is and their hands are tied. There list of frustrations include kids missing massive amounts of days, lack of funding for basic needs (paper, pencils, etc), to students with IEP's getting by with everything and anything, unfunded mandates from the State and Federal governments, and not to mention the parents who don't have their kids ready to learn.

If the King of WV...See More

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GW This, too, will pass...

Mar 18, 2010

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Blame a Teacher "Well, it IS your fault. You teachers didn't teach us state road workers the math skills we need to calculate the amount of hot patch we need to fill a hole. You know, that "volume" stuff? Each time we have a patch job, we have to make two or three trips back to the plant for more of that stuff to do the job. It's ALL your fault!"

Really, ...See More"Well, it IS your fault. You teachers didn't teach us state road workers the math skills we need to calculate the amount of hot patch we need to fill a hole. You know, that "volume" stuff? Each time we have a patch job, we have to make two or three trips back to the plant for more of that stuff to do the job. It's ALL your fault!"

Really, I'm kidding. No flaming, please. I have nothing but respect for the folks that maintain our roads. It is a thankless job, kind of like teaching these days. However, I DO have a problem with the state's cars that I see parked in some of their driveways everyday.

On 3/18/10, biggame wrote: > New press release, we have the 8th worst roads in the > Country. Hmmm, is King Joe going to run to the Head of the > Department of Highways and demand they fire all the state > road workers? No, I'm sure he won't. but that’s what he > wants Dr. Paine to do. Just a thought if we had better > roads, maybe we could attract some jobs that college > educated people wanted to do instead of supplying commuters > on the Hillybilly Highway out of the state. > > MOJO needs to stop his public attack on the State School > System and start working with the teachers to work on > change. Knowing several teachers, they are frustrated as he > is and their hands are tied. There list of frustrations > include kids missing massive amounts of days, lack of > funding for basic needs (paper, pencils, etc), to students > with IEP's getting by with everything and anything, > unfunded mandates from the State and Federal governments, > and not to mention the parents who don't have their kids > ready to learn. > > If the King of WV, would get off his soapbox for just a > minute and listen to the Educators of the state he may find > they are willing to work with him to really improve the > problems of this state. But no I am sure he will not want > to do that. > You know if he was in school now and acted this way, he > could almost be in violation of the State’s bullying > policy, but I’m sure that wouldn’t happen as he is above > the law. > > One final thought, if he treated the state’s coal miners > the same way he treats teachers, they would burn down > Charleston. > Joe instead of preaching, come down into the congregation! > > But, I’m sure by the next press release the bad roads will > be the Teachers faults too!

Mar 18, 2010

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a couple of thoughts Our roads are in the shape they are in because...

1) We are one of the few states to take care of ALL the roads that are not city streets or private lanes. Using neighboring OH and PA as examples, State Road there only maintains the Federal and State Routes. All the side roads are left to the townships to maintain. This allows State Road t...See MoreOur roads are in the shape they are in because...

1) We are one of the few states to take care of ALL the roads that are not city streets or private lanes. Using neighboring OH and PA as examples, State Road there only maintains the Federal and State Routes. All the side roads are left to the townships to maintain. This allows State Road to focus on the important roads, ginving them far less to worry about both for snow removal as well as patching holes.

2) Our DOH is funded almost solely from the State gas tax. This is not true in other states, where there are multiple sources of funding. What this causes is a cost difference, especially with OH and a lot of our residents will drive across the river and buy their gas in OH to save the nickel a gallon, putting money into OH's coffers but depriving WV of the very money needed to improve our roads, especially by securing matching Federal dollars. This problem was greatly exacerbated but Mojo's insistance that the gas tax NOT be increased when the periodic time came up because he did not want to add any more cost to the gallon, despite the fact that many of the materials used to fix roads or build bridges had nearly doubled in cost and it was becoming hard to replace employees who retired or otherwise left because the rate of pay is so much lower than neighboring states or the private sector.

3) Since Mojo got in, there has been a systematic effort at hobbling State Road to put more of the work into the hands of the private sector. One of the first actions taken was the sale of "marginally used" equipment for nickels on the dollar. In truth, this equipment was either seasonal or very specialized, leaving State Road no choice but to either rent this equipment when it was needed (which is far more expensive than using equipment already owned) or to contract out that work which needs said equipment.

4) Also since Mojo got in there has been a very strong emphasis on a "core plan" (mowing, ditching, patching), which although does do necessary maintenance, does not allow for the various counties to take care of those problems which are outside the scope but need done (one example is road base failure, another is cutting dead trees back from along the roads). Counties are graded by their adherance to the core plan instead of how well they keep the roads overall, and even if you have a good reason to deviate you are still punished for dropping down too far on your adherance percentages.

5) Finally, money that used to be spread around the state for things like small bridge structure replacement and resurfacing has been redirected to a coupld a very big ticket projests, with no concern how this will affect those districts who must sacrifice.

The only good news is Mojo only has two years left. Of course, if Byrd happens to die before Mojo is out of office he will simply appoint himself to be the replacement and the WV Senate will of course confirm him.

Mar 29, 2010

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