There was an article in the newspaper this week claiming that Governor Manchin of West Virginia was considering the possibility of toll roads in the state. He was talking about toll roads in the Eastern Panhandle part of the state on Routes 9, 304 and 522. Local State Senator John Unger was discussing this issue with the newspaper and said that he opposed the plan. Someone suggested that it was time the Governor realized that the Eastern Panhandle was not an ATM for the rest of the state.

This is very true since Charleston has always taken a lot of money from this area and used it to improve other parts of the state. For years large amounts of money were taken from the Charles Town race track and used to help build roads in other parts of the state. Meanwhile, the source of this revue, the people attending horse races in Charles Town were forced to travel on dangerous single lane roads. This included race fans from West Virginia as well as visitors from Washington D.C. and Baltimore. Finally a two lane road was completed from Harper’s Ferry to Charles Town which helped considerably. However the people of Berkeley County are still forced to ride on a single lane road to Charles Town. This situation is finally improving with the building of a new Route 9.

The Governor has said the toll money would be used to build and improve roads in the Eastern Panhandle. He also said the money would be used in other parts of the state. That is the scary part, can we trust the Governor to be fair in distributing this money.  I think not.

On a recent trip to Charleston I traveled on Interstate 79 between Morgantown and Charleston and during that whole trip I didn’t see near as many cars as I would in a trip from just Martinsburg to Hagerstown, Maryland. We need to complete the project that was already started to make Interstate 81 a three lane highway. What I am saying is that we need the money here more than in Charleston; however tolls are not the way to do it.

Making our local roads pay roads would hurt the people of the Eastern Panhandle by forcing them to either pay to use good roads or force them back on dangerous secondary roads. There is money in the state to complete the Interstate 81 project; we just need to get the money back in the Eastern Panhandle.   The money it would take to build toll booths and widen the roads at the toll areas would be better utilized to improve existing roads.

If we can ever find out what happened to the money that was “lost” while Governor Manchin was Secretary of State, we could use that to improve our roads. Governor Manchin’s record with our money is not that good, so I don’t think we should give him anymore.

I can only hope that Senator Unger sticks by his guns and fights any suggestions of tolls in the Eastern Panhandle.   The citizens of the Eastern Panhandle need to keep an eye on Senator Unger because he has been known to back down to the Democratic powers of the state. In his book, “No Strings Attached”, current Republican Gubernatorial candidate Russell Weeks, discusses one such incident. Senator Unger had expressed to Senator Weeks that the Budget Bill which had been finalized and signed by the Finance Committee conferees had been changed. Once the conferees have signed the Budget Bill no changes are allowed to be made without the approval of a majority of both chambers. Two items had been changed adding nearly an additional $8.2 million dollars to the budget. Before the final vote was taken Senator Unger brought this issue to the attention of the full senate. The Senate President called a brief recess where he left the room to research the issue. When he returned the Senate President stated that Senator Unger’s point was not well taken and that they interpret the rules and they interpret the rules that they can make changes. No other explanation was mentioned. When the time for the vote came, Senator Unger voted for the budget. Let’s hope he fights the toll issue with stronger convictions than he did for the budget.