If you live in West Virginia, please call or email your state senator today and share your support for the Committee Substitute to Senate Bill 708, titled the West Virginia River Access and Bridge Modernization Act. This important river access legislation must pass out of the state Senate’s Judiciary Committee by the end of the day on Wednesday, March 4th, in order for it to move forward toward becoming law.
The West Virginia River Access and Bridge Modernization Act would require the WV Department of Transportation to evaluate integrating river access into bridge construction or maintenance projects and provide a process for making such access areas more likely to be built.
The result of this bill would be a gradual improvement to river access throughout the state over many years to come, increasing safety for both paddlers and drivers and ensuring the economic and health benefits of river recreation will be a secure part of West Virginia’s future.
Bridge work almost always requires an equipment staging area and access to the base of the bridge for equipment. Often, providing river access after construction requires little more than leaving these hardened areas in place and placing guard rails in a manner that allows for parking. Here at American Whitewater, we’ve seen many important and informal bridge access sites eliminated by guardrail placement or other actions because river access was not part of the project goals or design. This bill would help avoid such losses and instead bake consideration of river access into project designs where feasible. This would be, over time, nothing short of game-changing.
With this bill, West Virginia would join other states like Washington, Virginia, and North Carolina that have a formal process for improving access to rivers during bridge construction and repair projects. We encourage boaters that live in West Virginia to reach out to their state senators and share what the reps support of the Committee Substitute to Senate Bill 708 (Com Sub SB708) would mean to them.
Thanks for taking action to help further river access in West Virginia!