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Jun 07, 2023

Over 100 slide repairs completed and over 50 scheduled across WV in 2023

default by: Jessica Phillips Posted: Aug 28, 2023 / 01:03 PM EDT Updated: Aug 28, 2023 / 04:51 PM EDT CHARLESTON, WV (WVNS) — The West Virginia Division of Highways continues working on slip and slide

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by: Jessica Phillips

Posted: Aug 28, 2023 / 01:03 PM EDT

Updated: Aug 28, 2023 / 04:51 PM EDT

CHARLESTON, WV (WVNS) — The West Virginia Division of Highways continues working on slip and slide repairs across the state.

Taking care of the secondary roads in the state is a focal point for Gov. Jim Justice and Transportation Secretary Jimmy Wriston, P.E., and the WVDOH so that there is an emphasis on maintenance and not just building and paving, so that the roads will last longer for the residents of the Mountain State. That process includes monitoring, tracking, and repairing slides on roads.

Every slide we see is a little different. We use a similar approach to evaluate each one and determine the best method to correct it.

As a part of the WVDOH’s continued maintenance, contractors on 4-H Camp Road and McComas Road in Cabell County are stabilizing two slides using soil nails. For a slip or slide to be fixed properly, all areas need to be evaluated by the WVDOH so that a long term cost-effective solution can be found that will be beneficial to taxpayers while also making sure that they will be safe on the roads. Evaluations like this take time, but that time goes toward making sure the project has little to no issues once ground construction starts.

According to Pennington, depending on the slide’s severity the project designs to fix it can range from a couple weeks to a couple months. Building a piling wall is one solution, which is a concrete retaining wall that is secured by steel beams sunk deep into the ground that help stop the earth from moving underneath a road.

When working on McComas Road, the decision was made to repair the slide with soil nails instead of steel pilings because the utilities beside the road would have made installing steel pilings far more difficult. Soil nails resemble long steel bolts and are placed horizontally under roads to tie into rock and help keep the ground from moving.

Soil nails are more like an anchoring system. They go underneath the road. It may be two or three rows of 50 soil nails. It depends on the particular site how many they have to use.

Soil nails are also being installed by contractors at a slide on 4-H Camp Road.

Over 100 slide repair projects have been completed and 59 others are under construction or are scheduled by the WVDOH:

Slide projects completed in 2023 include:

Slide repairs that are under construction or are scheduled for upcoming months:

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