Manchin draws attention to Mountain State infrastructure before returning to D.C.
From the Marmet Locks and Dams in the Kanawha River to the mountaintop Yeager Airport, Sen. Joe Manchin took to the roads, rails, rivers, and air to highlight infrastructure needs in the Mountain State as part of promoting a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure proposal.
Manchin, D-W.Va., toured the breadth of infrastructure packed into the Kanawha Valley amid negotiations for a nationwide infrastructure package that has been proposed as low as $1.2 trillion and as high as $6 trillion over the next five years.
The infrastructure proposal Manchin discussed Thursday was the $1.2 trillion proposal the White House announced last month.
Manchin took his tour during the last day of the Senate’s Independence Day holiday break.
The focus of Thursday’s tour for Manchin was to draw attention to the danger of potentially letting the infrastructure deal fall through and push his colleagues in Congress to reach a deal.
“There’s certain things you just can’t afford not to do,” Manchin said from the 88-year-old Marmet facility. “We’ve passed this buck along, and we’ve kicked this can down the road for far too long.”
Officials with the Huntington District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers told Manchin the biggest problem with the Marmet structure is its electrical system, which is original to the locks and dams, built in 1932 and 1933.
The expected lifespan of the original structure was 50 years at the time it was constructed, said Kent Browning, chief of the Technical Support Branch’s Operations and Readiness Division in the Corps’ Huntington District.
The banks of the Kanawha River were carved out in 2008 to make a new channel through the locks, but with that improvement that allowed larger barges to pass through the locks in a little less than an hour came more pressure on the aging dam.
About 7,000 barges pass through the channels at the Marmet Locks and Dam each year, along with about 400 recreational boats.
The Winfield Locks and Dam in Putnam County sees similar barge traffic to Marmet, and the Putnam-based structure has a failing status under the current condition rating system the Corps uses, Browning said.
That rating means it’s likely that at least one part of the dam will fail within three years, which doesn’t pose a flood risk to residents along the river since the dams don’t function for flood control, Browning said.
The Locks and Dam in Marmet, which are three years older than the Winfield facility, aren’t in much better shape, he said.
“What we’re doing now with the funding that we have available is what we call Band-Aid repairs,” Browning said. “What we’re talking about with the infrastructure bill is to go in there and actually replace the components that are beyond their design life, that are failing.
“We’re just constantly chasing our tail when it comes to major maintenance on these projects.”
At the U.S. Army Archie Searls Memorial Bridge on MacCorkle Avenue in Chelyan, inspectors took Manchin beneath the bridge to show him what sort of things they’re looking for in a bridge inspection.
The bridge Manchin saw was built in 1985 and rated as being in fair condition, said Richard Rowe, a bridge safety inspector from the West Virginia Division of Highways.
Rowe’s inspection district includes Mason, Putnam, Kanawha, Boone and Clay counties.
Rowe said salt used to de-ice roads in West Virginia is one of the biggest catalysts for road and bridge decay in the state because the salt builds up and eats away at metal.
Bridges in West Virginia get a general inspection every two years and a more in-depth inspection every six years, Rowe said.
He said his experience has shown him that bridges and roads in West Virginia don’t deteriorate any faster or slower than in other states, but that the needs throughout the country are fairly common.
“We have a lot more older bridges and roads, and just simply having the mountains makes it kind of interesting,” Rowe said.
Underneath a ramp to the South Side Bridge in Charleston, Manchin examined the Amtrak station, which is undergoing a substantial renovation to extend and elevate the boarding platform.
Station Agent Matt Crouch said the renovation will maintain an accessible and safe form of travel in the Mountain State, if only the station had the means for people to purchase tickets without a smart phone at the station. Crouch told Manchin that was a goal of his for the infrastructure plan.
“Some people desire that level, and some people need that level, of service,” Crouch said, noting that train travel is more efficient for people who require the use of wheelchairs.
Manchin said it was his goal to restore daily passenger train service to the Charleston station, saying he began using the train more since he was elected to Congress in 2010.
“This is all leading up to the infrastructure bill, the bipartisan infrastructure bill,” Manchin said. “Hopefully, the Democrats and Republicans alike will put their politics aside and start rebuilding America.”
By: Lacie Pierson
Source: Charleston Gazette Mail
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