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I've been wondering something in recent months, an issue that moved front-and-center again last week:
How many times must the same stretch of National Road in Wheeling break open before someone decides the people living along it -- and those who use it for their daily commute, to get to Wheeling Park or Wheeling Park High School -- deserve more than another patch?
For residents along National Road near Wheeling Park, that question -- and an answer -- is long overdue. More than a half-dozen major waterline breaks over the past few years have turned an ordinary expectation -- being able to come and go without another infrastructure emergency -- into a recurring frustration.
The latest infrastructure mishap came Tuesday morning, when a geyser erupted out of the street in the right lane heading west from Elm Grove just after many young drivers went through the area on their way to school.
It also happened while city crews were currently working on the other side of National Road to repair a water line break that happened in the past few weeks. That led to the road already being narrowed to patch the pavement.
The public has been more than patient with this ongoing mess.
Now, they deserve answers.
What's most curious about this cycle of waterline breaks is that they've all happened after the state of West Virginia repaved the road several years ago. The timing does not establish that the paving work caused the trouble. It does --at least for me -- raise a reasonable question that deserves a serious answer: Has anyone taken the time to look into whether that paving work contributed -- and continues to contribute -- to these repeated water line failures?
If that review has happened, city and state officials should explain what they found. If it has not, what are they waiting for?
No one I've spoken to who lives along that road recalls a time when the breaks have come so frequently and so often -- and in the same 150-yard stretch.
Yes, the waterline is a city responsibility. And city crews have done an admirable job in fixing the breaks as they happen. But a city pipe beneath a state road should invite cooperation, especially when the same area keeps failing. Residents should not have to sort out which government office owns which piece of their headache before someone takes responsibility for solving it.
Meanwhile, the road itself has become a roller-coaster ride. Bumps, divots and successive patches leave motorists bouncing through a stretch that should provide a reasonably smooth trip. The punishment to vehicles and their suspensions adds another expense to a situation residents did nothing to create.
It's always good to remember that for the people living in that area, this is the road outside their door. Every new break brings another disruption to their lives. Every inadequate patch leaves them with the aftermath long after the repair crews leave.
Again, city crews deserve credit for responding. They have done their jobs when these breaks happen and restored water service as quickly as possible.
The larger questions are these: are continued emergency repairs acceptable to Wheeling officials? Are we OK with geysers erupting from under our roadways?
What is causing these breaks? What would a lasting repair require? Has the paving contractor's work been examined? Who will restore the road properly, and when?
Those are basic yet important questions.
Perhaps an investigation will find that the paving work played no role. Perhaps the lines in that area need more extensive attention. Either finding would help move this beyond the familiar routine of fixing the latest break -- and waiting for the next.
After years of inconvenience, patching the pavement and moving on is no longer an acceptable answer. This is something city and state leaders need to address.
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I met two college students with deep Ohio Valley ties Wednesday during an event at West Virginia University's Media Innovation Center.
As I was catching up with Wheeling native and WVU Reed College Associate Professor Chuck Scatterday, he introduced me to Lilly Reisenweber of Martinsburg, who is set to graduate next May with a degree in journalism and a minor in sports communications.
Reisenweber, it turns out, is the granddaughter of the late Thomas Burgoyne, a longtime Wheeling resident and former FBI agent who served two terms as Ohio County sheriff. Lilly's mother, Erin, is Tom's daughter.
I also met Maria Evans, a WVU senior from McMechen who graduates in December and hopes to pursue a journalism career.
It was encouraging to spend a little time with two young people preparing to enter a profession that needs bright, curious and committed minds more than ever.
The other local connection at Wednesday's event, sponsored by The Ogden Newspaper Seminar Series and focusing on the future of local news in rural communities, was Wheeling native Chris Stirewalt, who moderated a panel.
John McCabe is editor of The Intelligencer and Wheeling News-Register. From 9-10 a.m. each Friday, he joins Howard Monroe on AM 1600 WKKX to discuss the most pressing issues in Wheeling. Reach him at jmccabe@theintelligencer.net.