West Virginia is adding nearly 280 pieces of road maintenance equipment to its Division of Highways (DOH) fleet. The new vehicles are part of Governor Jim Justice’s recent directive to make fixing West Virginia's back roads the DOH's top priority.

A total of 160 machines and vehicles have already been delivered throughout the entire state as of August 1, with new items coming into the Equipment Division offices every day. DOH maintenance crews will have at least 279 new pieces of equipment at their disposal in the coming months. These items include the 20 Gradalls, plus 60 tandem-axle dump trucks, 60 single-axle dump trucks, 20 Ford F-550 dump trucks, 23 DOH-grade mowers, 11 cranes, eight pavers, two brine trailers, and 75 crew cab pickup trucks. These will be distributed to 10 DOH districts in all 55 counties by this fall.

“This is amazing,” Department of Transportation Deputy Secretary Jimmy Wriston, P.E., said. “This has never happened before with Highways, to have this much equipment for our guys to get out there and get these roads fixed with, it’s never happened before."