West Virginia Parkways Authority launches investigation after Turnpike standstill

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WOWK) — After those nine hours in the dark and rain on the West Virginia Turnpike, what happened and what didn’t happen that night are now under investigation by the West Virginia Parkways Authority.

On Monday, the group met for its scheduled meeting in Beckley, but the catastrophic failure on the Turnpike last Thursday was top of mind.

Hundreds of drivers were trapped on th

e Turnpike for hours after heavy rain caused a mudslide. Those drivers were not rerouted, and there was no communication to let those stranded know what was going on.

“We have definite communication flaws within our agency,” said Chuck Smith, WV Parkways Authority executive director. “Messages were sent, text messages were sent, emails were sent, but the information did not get to the executive level and the parties that needed to make those decisions, including notifying the governor.”

Smith said that judgment calls were made that night to focus on fixing the storm drains and not opening the gates to the other side of the highway. Two of the storm drains were opened up, but the third one remained clogged.

Officials said they believe moving the barriers and rerouting traffic would have taken the same amount of time.