Jill Micah Hess now has a namesake bridge in Danville. It's high-profile, too. Signs denoting the bridge's name are posted, spotted by motorists along the way. War veterans, either by name or in general, get the honor most often. But so do basketball stars, state heroes and even a young girl killed in a car accident.
Bridge naming in West Virginia has a rich history, and it has evolved into a prolific art.
A total of 161 bridges, most of them in the past decade, have been named by resolution. But lawmakers have a long way to go. According to the state Department of Transportation there are 7,077 bridges in West Virginia and 6,462 are maintained by the state. At the current pace of 18 a year, it would take lawmakers 350 years to leave their mark on all the state bridges. They are trying, however.