Slow Response to Ice Prompts West Virginia Highway Division Changes

The West Virginia Division of Highways plans changes following a slow response to ice on Interstate 64 in Cabell County.

Media outlets report that Cabell County 911 received reports of multiple accidents between 2:30 a.m. and 6:15 a.m. on Black Friday. Five DOH salt trucks assigned to treat the interstate in the county weren’t deployed while the ice was accumulating.

Highways officials discussed the matter on Tuesday during a regularly scheduled meeting in Charleston.

State highways spokesman Brent Walker attributed the DOH’s slow response to human error that he called “strictly unacceptable.”

The DOH plans to adjust schedules to have drivers on standby. Walker says the agency also will assign two-person crews to patrol interstates any time temperatures approach or fall below freezing with precipitation.