Roads, jobs and drugs: We asked Northern panhandle residents what’s on their minds this election season.

Every few hours, fleets of tanker trucks zip through the very same narrow two-lane roads George Vucelick travels to get to his Moundsville home. 

The old, winding country roads now feature a growing number of potholes and divots alongside sections of asphalt that are sagging, even crumbling at some points — illustrating the devastating toll on the county’s road infrastructure by the constant rumble of trucks. 

“A big issue here right now is our roads,” said Vucelick, describing missing sections of road and hillside slips around Moundsville, caused by worn asphalt made worse by the recent influx of heavy rain.

“To be perfectly clear, we have always had little problems on the hills,” added his wife, Rebecca. “But not like this.”

Damage to local roads in Marshall County and across West Virginia’s Northern Panhandle has become a more common concern, exacerbated by the boom of the natural gas industry. During interviews with Mountain State Spotlight, several people mentioned the condition of their roads, explaining that they’re often patchy, textured or in general disrepair. 

“From the time you get to the state line of Pennsylvania till you get down to Veterans Bridge on route 22, it’s a disaster,” said Tom Bloom, a Brooke County native. “Everybody has to ride in the left lane because that’s the only smooth part there is.”

Residents also mentioned other infrastructure issues, including the closure of the Market Street Bridge and aging water systems. Some said they don’t drink city water because it’s discolored or smells – or they just generally distrust it. Instead, they buy bottled water. 

The need for jobs was another common issue as the region reckons with the economic downturn with the recent loss of key employers. Having shed more than 10,000 jobs since 1990, the steel industry has been perhaps one of the hardest-hit major manufacturing subsectors in West Virginia over the past several decades.

The closure of the Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. tin plant has left the region even more in need of new industries and jobs. 

While attracting new industries and businesses was frequently mentioned as a way to increase job opportunities, residents also brought it up as a way to revitalize and build up towns across the region. 

“I would be for anything that would bring a few jobs,” said Moundsville native Chris Thomas, adding that he would like to see communal spaces like a recreational center in town. 

For other residents, addressing homelessness and the ongoing drug crisis were the issues at the top of their minds, especially in Wheeling as the city has struggled to grapple with both in recent months.    

“There is a crossover with the addiction and homeless community,” said Stephanie Joseph, a Wheeling resident. “It isn’t just our community, our state. It is happening nationwide everywhere”

The drug crisis, specifically the opioid epidemic that has ravaged West Virginia, is personal to Joseph as her daughter died of an overdose nearly six years ago.

“We’re losing people, we are losing a generation,” Joseph added. “What we’re doing isn’t working.”