Local Road Conditions Damage Vehicles
Who thought visiting grandparents’ could end up damaging your vehicle. Certainly not me. It was May, and althought I had always been aware that Rural Route 2, otherwise known as Freeland Settlement Road, in Terra Alta, WV, had an enormous amount of potholes, I didn’t think it had gotten as bad as it was. I was travelling about 15 to 20 miles per hour down the windy, sometimes narrow road and slowing down for all of the known and visiible potholes, when suddenly I felt the vehicle sink and hit hard a pothole that was not clearly visible. When I got out to check out the damage, the pothole stretched clear across the road. The only damage was that the black plastic piece under my bumper was tore off, and that my head was still ringing from the jolt I had received. It was then that I started taking pictures of the road conditions and seeing if the state road was concerned about this road’s poor condition.
That was nearly 2 months ago, and the road is still in the same condition. I asked my grandmother when the last time the state road had been out to their road, and she said “It was almost five years ago.” I decided to call the Division of Highways myself and see what their records would show. I called the Terra Alta local office and no one answered the phone, so I decided to call the Preston County Headquarters Office in Albright, WV. If anyone should know, it would be the Headquarters Office, right? Wrong.
Upon calling the Headquarters Office, I asked when the last time the Freeland Settlement Road, or Rural Route 2, in Terra Alta was worked on by the State Road. The Response? “Well, that’s a good question.” Not the response I had expected from a Headquarters Office. “Perhaps you should try the Terra Alta office and ask the foreman” was the next response. I replied “I have tried contacting them, but no one answers the phone when I call. Shouldn’t the headquarters office have this information?” I was told that “Local foremans maintain their own records.” Too bad I can’t ever get a hold of the local foreman in Terra Alta.
The dilapidated road conditions still remain and residents and visitors on Rural Route 2, have to swrve into the ditch to avoid missing some potholes that have stretched themselves over the entire road. Hopefully, this article, and the pictures I’ve attached, will cause an outcry from the public, demanding better road conditions and for someone to answer the phone at the Terra Alta office.
