Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1922-10-05
rur STATE ROAD QUESTION.

1HE.
r.-, present indications il looks as
-. Vest Virginia State Road Com
"s ~ < ius, bound and determined
ms, one over on the people of JET
- county. II will be recalled tnat
IL. commission announced a year or
u W ,co that il meant to construct the
H.. H. state road between Martlnsburg
nv Charles Town by what is known
d.. re zine hills" route, leaving Mar
.4,.,rre a. hv South Queen street. This
srTl an absurdity-so undesirable
.be reople of the two counties, or
,,ost of them-that Immediately
.'.r,, orinion localized against this
tI-,osifion and general protest was
r,{s The commission was informed
.-, ,b;s route was unsatisfactory to a
~. r.rre proportion Of the people OF
49, .artion, and there were so many
u,,r,, and private objections that it
vas believed the pine hills route had
zen abandoned. Indeed, the present
summer it was given out that the COM
,,ission had given up the route and
."5, the road would leave Martins
tn-o hv Burke street, proceed east
-, reaerson county by Winebrenner's
C.UsS Roads 10 Walper's Cross Roads,
o,+ from there to Charles Town by a
cute ", n be located by its engineers.
Wbiie this was not wholly satisfac-
tor. 10 those people in this neighbor-
hood who believe that the road ought
~ nse the old established highways
s-ar, Nartinsburg TO Shepherdstown
and from Shepherdstown to Charles
Towr still there was but little eX-
messed objection to it, as 1t was said
hat 2 SPUR would be built to Shep-
bertstown and there was hope that
tbs road might be carried to Charles
Town bv way of Shenandoah June
ron The people of our section of the
county we're not especially pleased, but
thew we're willing to make the best of
il.
A party of surveyors from the State
Road Commission for the past couple
NJ months have been surveying Tor the
rr0poSed road through Jefferson coun-
~. Their work had caused some sus-
ricion that the commission was going
TO nut something over on us, and re-
cent developments have shown this to
be true The County Court of Jeffer-
son county has received a map from
the commission outlining the road
and the court figures that the route
is 10 be through the pine hills after
all and that it is going through our
county Nv a route that will please the
least number of persons.
The route proposed is utterly objec-
tionable to the people of Shepherds
town and the northern section of the
county 1t diSgusts Leetown, which
will be left far to one side. 1t dis
pleases Shenandoah Junction, the most
important railroad center in the coun-
", which will derive but trifling bene-
fit from it, In fact, if the commission
had set out to deliberately disregard
the wishes and the convenience of the
greatest number of persons in the
county. it could have succeeded no bet
ter than it has done by selecting the
route that it now declares is its choice
The limited number of persons who
approve of IT are those who are direct
ly on the line of the road. We don't
blame them for being pleased, of
course, but if official influence has
been used for private advantage this is
culpable and will be condemned.
Our Jefferson County Court is
highly indignant over the matter. AS
representatives of the people of t..
county they know that the Tc2osed
route is not satisfactory for maly
reasons. The curt !a3 Or will ente.
protest against t.. Or. O. the serious;
objections that tie C Lrt has express
ed IS that the engineers ignore TIC 10
roads and propose to con e!nl la
and construct an entirely neN roadbci.
Inc court says that it has al tie
ROADS now that are necessary, ani
yat the new line should use some O.
these instead of making several miles
oi entirely new road-an expensive
procedure. TO condemn new route
ana cut through farms will cost thous-
anus OF dollars, and it is so utterly
useless that the court will resist it.
Inc members of the State Commits
SION mad promised that they would not
SSv0e THIS important matter until they
nag VISITED our section and conferred
""h Inc court and the citizens Of the
SyUn'E. They we're here some weeks
Sso' IhcE put themselves in the
"a"CS OF certain prominent residents
u. VI .r.T .T"ESourg, made flying trip
"'.oUSh Jefferson county, stopped
myrniGht at hotel in Harper's Ferry,
a"- made another flight out of the
C co-ul Inc County Court had re-
S-.Sel conference with the men,
~ - "i the commission and notified
MI, MI" mat It would be in session for
w.. purpose when the visitors came
wV county. They didn't even hes.
,n. cor.. IN Charles Town, where our
'.' ~ was awaiting them-they sped
,,. w s>I ana SO far as we know con-
W. with no Jefferson county folks.
c,,. ". assured by a member of our