by Caity Coyne, West Virginia Watch
June 10, 2025

Gov. Patrick Morrisey on Monday announced an “overhaul” of the state’s Department of Transportation, saying years of financial mismanagement and outsized investment in new projects instead of maintaining existing infrastructure has left the agency broke.

The new “culture change” at DOT will include refocusing existing resources toward “long overdue” deferred maintenance of the state’s bridges and roads, reducing administrative overhead costs by cutting unspecified positions with “too high [of] salaries” and increasing transparency regarding details of the agency’s ongoing projects.

“We’re getting rid of the bureaucracy. We’re going to put more money in the roads and the bridges,” Morrisey said. “That’s what the people want. That’s what the people deserve.”

According to the Federal Highway Administration, as of 2024 West Virginia holds the second highest rate of bridges in the nation ranked in “poor” condition. Per an analysis of that data, more than 18% of the state’s bridges are in “poor” condition while 56% are considered to be “fair” and 25% are classified as being in “good” condition. 

Between 2020 and 2023, West Virginia had the highest percentage of bridges in poor condition of any state. In 2024 — the most recent year with data on record — Iowa outpaced West Virginia with 19% of its bridges considered to be in poor condition.

Though he cited different data from unnamed sources, Morrisey said Monday he wants to see the state get its rate of bridges in poor condition below 10% by 2028.

Bridge conditions are determined federally by a formula analyzing different components of a bridge, including paving, cracks, structural performance, average usage and any reported damage. Bridges that score lower than four with the formula are considered “poor,” those between four and seven are “fair” and bridges scoring higher than a seven are in “good” condition, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. 

Todd Rumbaugh, the state’s transportation secretary, said the condition of the state’s bridges as well as its roads — of which at least one third are considered to be “deteriorated,” according to a report earlier this year — are only going to worsen in coming years.

That’s due to a lack of investment in maintenance, Rumbaugh said. As those needs increase, he continued, so do safety risks for everyone in the communities that rely on them.

“Deferred maintenance does not go away. It gets more expensive, it gets more dangerous over time,” Rumbaugh said. “That’s why we must shift the focus and resources towards preserving what we already have.”

Morrisey says Justice responsible for outsized debts on road infrastructure

In what has become a trend for Morrisey over his first six months in office, the new governor said several of the overarching challenges for the state’s transportation infrastructure were spurred by policy decisions he inherited.

Though he didn’t mention him by name, Morrisey’s speech Monday came with several not-so-subtle barbs against his predecessor, former Gov. Jim Justice. 

Justice, who now represents the state as a Republican in the U.S. Senate, made West Virginia’s road infrastructure a core tenet during his eight years as governor. From 2017 to 2024, Justice started and oversaw the “Roads to Prosperity” project, which had billions of dollars put into road projects through increased registration fees, taxes and more to pay for general obligation bonds for the projects.

Morrisey said Monday, however, that he believes the money was largely misspent and didn’t account for the actual needs of existing infrastructure. It was so bad, he continued, that the federal government told his administration “very early on” that unless the state changed how it managed its highway system, there would be a cut to federal funds.

Federal funds are crucial for state road and bridge projects.

“Basically, the state was spending so much on some of the new highways without a clear plan for getting them done,” Morrisey said. “A basic look at our financial numbers made it obvious that we can’t even afford a lot of existing highways that were on the books.”

While the bonds purchased by the state for Roads to Prosperity were 30 year bonds, Morrisey said “every little bit” of those funds were allocated in the first seven years they existed.

When he took office in January, Morrisey said he was “alarmed” to learn that the Department of Transportation was “basically out of money.”

“I’m here to tell you that the Roads to Prosperity money — it’s all gone. It’s done. It’s not available into the future because it’s effectively committed,” Morrisey said.

And while the money is gone, debt for those bonds is hanging over the state while numerous projects remain incomplete and other needs are growing. Morrisey said that the state’s highway system is “responsible for $909 in highway debt for every person in the state of West Virginia.” Most other states, he continued, have transportation debts between $500-$600 per a person.

Now, he said, West Virginia will focus on a more “data-driven” approach that balances investments with immediate need. While most of the state’s funds will be going toward much needed infrastructure maintenance and improvements, the state will start to look at partnerships — with localities as well as public private partnerships — to start new roads projects where necessary.

The changes, according to Morrisey, will be large but they represent what he sees as a reflection of his administration’s priorities, especially when compared to Justice’s.

“We’re just not going to let political decisions guide this anymore … Too many of our leaders in the past wanted to kick the can down the road. They want to settle future generations with so much debt,” Morrisey said. “I want to be clear: under our administration, we want to pay our bills on time and not just push them way off into the future to be inherited by a new governor.”

West Virginia Watch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. West Virginia Watch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Leann Ray for questions: info@westvirginiawatch.com.

The post Morrisey: ‘Culture change’ coming for WV Department of Transportation after prior mismanagement appeared first on westvirginiawatch.com

Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.

Political Bias Rating: Center-Right

This article portrays Gov. Patrick Morrisey, a Republican, emphasizing fiscal responsibility and infrastructure maintenance over new projects, with critiques aimed at his predecessor’s approach to transportation funding. The content focuses on conservative-leaning themes such as reducing bureaucracy, limiting debt, and advocating for more transparent government spending. While it does not present overt partisan rhetoric, the perspective aligns more closely with center-right viewpoints favoring conservative fiscal policy and skepticism toward prior investments managed under potentially more expansive frameworks.