May 3, 2015 3 min read

The rumble of water tanker trucks rolling down High and Greene streets through Waynesburg’s business district is more than just a loud nuisance.

It’s a costly problem.

Costly not only for state taxpayers who help pay the construction crews that scramble to fix the mammoth potholes that have opened up on many state roads, but also for motorists who may have the unfortunate luck of damaging their vehicles by driving over – or through – one of the huge crevasses.

State Department of Transportation workers are making repairs now that the weather improved.

Last week, PennDOT crews had to be pulled from every corner of the county to concentrate on repairs to state highways from Waynesburg to the West Virginia line.

It has become a constant and possibly futile effort by PennDOT to keep the roads drivable.

“The roads are getting damaged as fast as we can repair them,” Jerry Simkovic, PennDOT’s Greene County maintenance manager, admitted last week.

Most of the state routes running east to west and north to south in Greene County pass through Waynesburg.

Greene and High streets in Waynesburg are probably two of the most heavily traveled.

For several days last week, one PennDOT crew was busy making repairs to a large pothole on Greene Street near the intersection of Church Street.

But as anyone who regularly drives Greene Street knows, that is not the only section along that street where repairs are needed.

If there’s any comfort to be had, it’s much the same story in Washington County and in other parts of the commonwealth.

Though the maintenance of roads in Pennsylvania is divided between the state and individual municipalities, they are all under severe strain when it comes to keeping roads smooth and passable, particularly after harsh winter weather, and finding the money for maintenance.

Earlier this year, the Pennsylvania Transportation Commission released a report looking at several aspects of the state’s bridges and roads, and found almost 9,000 miles of road within the commonwealth were rated as “poor” and are in need of work.

While there were improvements noted in driver safety, the report also found 35 percent of bridges in Pennsylvania were structurally deficient and a full half of Interstate highways in the commonwealth surpassed the volume of traffic they were originally designed to carry.

In a 21st century economy, we need a 21st century infrastructure.

In that regard, we have a lot of catching up to do.

PennDOT officials in Harrisburg should look to beef up the regional budgets for rehab projects across Pennsylvania and possibly hire more workers in this district to keep up with the growing maintenance demands on state highways here.

Residents and business owners, along with anyone else who regularly drives through Waynesburg, deserve better.