Driving Route 230 this week, after it has just been paved, I found it extremely difficult to see the roadway at night in the rain. Thankfully it had been widened so there was little chance of being on the wrong side of the road; however, that is not always the case here in the Eastern Panhandle or even in West Virginia.

Our roadways are lined for the most part; however, the paint is more often than not very difficult to see in the dark. Only on major roadways such as Route 340 or Route 9 have reflectors placed in the center lines to make those lines visible.

The danger this poses, especially in rural settings such as on the mountain or other less traveled highways would seem to be a reason for the state to invest in either more reflectors or some type of reflective or brighter paint to paint the lines. The problem becomes increasingly worse on rainy nights and in the fall of the year when leaves cover much of the wet roadways. In my travels, I have never noticed the problem so much as here in our home state.

Certainly the state cannot claim that they do not have enough funding to provide adequately visible paint on the roadways. Our gas prices are higher than most places on the East Coast and that extra tax allegedly goes to state highways. I know there are many projects that need to be completed within the DoH, but none of them are worth it if they are not safe for the citizens to drive. I assume in our litigation happy society, it would be much more cost efficient to invest in reflective paint than settle a lawsuit when a driver or passenger is killed or injured due to the inability to see the dividing lines.