Photo by Brett Dunlap Among the local road projects that will be paid for with the Roads to Prosperity bond is the widening of several miles of West Virginia 2 to five lanes. The project is expected to cost around $36 million. Residents will see a number of repaving and road rehabilitation projects in the area starting this spring.

PARKERSBURG — Local paving projects will start this Spring with some of the bigger projects under the state’s Roads to Properity program expected to get underway in the next couple of years after funding is in place.

In November, voters in West Virginia approved the sale of $1.6 billion in bonds over four years for road improvement projects across the state.

Brent Walker, spokesman for the West Virginia Department of Transportation said $800 million will be sold the first year, $400 million the second year, $200 million the third year and $200 million for the fourth year.

There are around 300 projects listed for the Roads to Prosperity program which also include road repair, new road construction and finishing projects at various points in their development.

The work is expected to create 48,000 new jobs statewide, state officials said.

Photo by Brett Dunlap Plans are in place to construct a new turning lane at the intersection of U.S. 50 east and Interstate 77 south, one of the projects used to promote the Roads to Prosperity bond in the November election. Cost is $1.6 million.

Wood County has 23 projects, totaling $75.7 million, under the program.

Projects for Wood County include widening to four lanes West Virginia 14 from Pettyville to downtown Parkersburg and widening West Virginia 2 as well as bridge replacements, bridge rehabilitation and road rehabilitation and resurfacing.

Those projects are being done under general obligation bonds, Walker said. The bonds for those projects will not likely be sold until 2020-2021.

“We don’t have the resources to put all of the projects out at once,” Walker said.

Engineering work continues on projects daily, but depending on where they are in the design process those projects could begin at various times soon after bond sale.

Photo by Brett Dunlap Deerwalk Highway, better known as West Virginia 31 in Wood County, will be resurfaced through the Roads to Prosperity bonds. The bonds totalling $1.6 billion will be paid back with higher DMV fees and gasoline taxes.

“It is more determined by when the project goes out for bid,” Walker said. “After a project is bid out and awarded, there is a preconstruction meeting with the successful contractor to go over schedules and determine an appropriate start date.”

The West Virginia 2 Widening project will cost $36 million and will reconstruct two miles of the road to a 5-lane highway from Wood CR 3/8 to 0.3 miles north West Virginia 31.

The West Virginia 14 project, which would cost $15 million, would widen the highway from Pettyville to Parkersburg. It will reconstruct and widen West Virginia 14 to four lanes from the Parkersburg City boundary south to the newly relocated West Virginia 14.

Other projects for Wood County include Deerwalk Highway resurfacing ($918,000); Kesterson Road paving ($190,000); Mt. Pleasant Estates rehabilitation where work will be done to rehabilitate pavement with slab replacement, overlay and drainage improvements ($470,000); Community Acres rehabilitation ($580,000); Spider Ridge resurfacing including drainage, ditches and shoulders ($350,000); a turn lane will be constructed along U.S. 50 eastbound to access I-77 southbound ($1.6 million) and other projects.

Resurfacing Pond Creed Road and Spider Ridge Road will probably happen this year, Walker said, adding other projects could also happen this year.

Photo by Brett Dunlap The widening of West Virginia 14 from Pettyville to Parkersburg is on the table thanks to the Roads to Prosperity bond. Instead of cutting through winding and twisting roads from the end of the four-lane outside the Mineral Wells area to Pettyville, highway officials said the road would be reconfigured and go though more navigable ground nearby, which would come out around the southside Wal-Mart. The project is expected to cost $15 million.

Rusty Roten, Department of Transportation District 3 Engineer, said the state is already working on the road project list for the upcoming construction season this spring.

The list will be enhanced with the money coming in from the increased motor vehicle fees and higher fuel taxes approved by the Legislature last year to support road repairs and bond repayments.

Lawmakers at the request of the governor raised the variable minimum wholesale gasoline tax by 3.5 cents a gallon, increased the vehicle sales tax from 5 percent to 6 percent and hiked the motor vehicle registration fee from $30 to $50. Those increases are expected to raise round $130 million.

Residents will see paving jobs in Wood County starting in March, Roten said.

Those include parts of Spider Ridge Road, River Hill Road and Love Hill, among others.

Pond Creek Road will see 4.52 miles of work and roads in the Community Acres area of Davisville will have road rehabilitation work done, including slab replacement and drainage improvements done, Roten said.

Officials are still working out a complete list of work projects they expect to do throughout the summer. That list is expected to be finalized in around a month after all of the details are worked out and funding is in place, he said.

Other road projects are slated throughout the area. Pleasants County has seven projects ($5.6 million), Calhoun has nine projects ($5.73 million), Jackson has 22 projects ($57.8 million), Wirt has 10 projects ($10 million), Ritchie has 10 projects ($10.3 million), Roane has 15 projects ($58.8 million) and Doddridge has 12 projects ($6.4 million).

Some projects are still in the planning process, some have right-of-ways that need to be acquired and other issues that would prevent a project from going out immediately.

“Some projects may not be ready to be put out,” Walker said. “We are working as hard as we can to get those ready.”