As state lawmakers argue this week whether the estimated $270 million hole in the state's general revenue fund should be filled by levying new taxes or cutting spending for public services, a related issue - the state's underfunded roadways - has mostly been placed on the back burner.
Opposition by some lawmakers to any new taxes limits possible funding solutions for the State Road Fund, which is separately financed through dedicated taxes on gasoline, vehicle registration fees and a vehicle sales tax.
Officials with the state Department of Transportation have continually warned that state and federal highway revenue has stagnated, and Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin's Blue Ribbon Commission on Highways reported last year that the state needed to spend an additional $750 million annually just to maintain the existing transportation system.
Ideas, including an increase in the motor vehicle sales tax or bumping registration fees collected by the Division of Motor Vehicles, have been floated and supported by the West Virginia Trucking Association and other groups. None of those plans has gained much traction.
The current funding situation, and the inability of lawmakers to even finalize a budget, has the contracting companies that build and repair the asphalt, steel and concrete that makes up the infrastructure throughout the state worried.
Some have cut employees. Many have looked to other states, where financing for public works is better prioritized.
Nate Orders, the president of Orders Construction Company, has seen his transportation-related business drop from 75 percent of the company's work a few years ago, down to 10 percent this year.
As a result, the St. Albans-based business has had to diversify away from the bridge and road construction work that the company was founded on.
"It's really changed the complexion and the mission of the company that my granddad started," Orders said.
Orders has opened up another office in Wytheville, Virginia, to take advantage of additional construction contracts in that state.
Federal lawmakers did pass a five-year highway bill in December - one of the first multi-year spending efforts in years - but Mike Clowser, the executive director of the Contractors Association of West Virginia, said the roughly $6 million annual bump that West Virginia will see from the law won't be enough to meet all of the state's needs.
So far this year, only $46 million in road funding has been bid out through 67 contracts, with another 124 projects currently being planned for bid later this year, according to the Department of Transportation.
Clowser said 31 of those projects, totalling $5.4 million in work, was only available because of funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is paying for road damage caused during heavy rain events last year.
"It'd be different if we were maintaining the status quo," he said. "But we're going backwards."
Sumith Hapuarachy, the president of Beckley-based SMH Construction, has watched the debate over state highway spending closely.
His company, which focuses on bridge construction and repairs, got its start in 1987 and has grown in past decades. But recently, Hapuarachy had to lay off some of his employees.
At the company's height he usually had four to five crews employing roughly 40 people. The company has built or repaired roughly 400 small to medium-sized bridges in the state.
Now, there are only eight to nine employees left on his staff. He currently has work lined up until July of this year. After that, he's not sure what is going to happen. He said some of his competitors are closing down completely or moving to other states.
"We have never been in this situation for 30 years," Hapuarachy said. "I have never had a problem getting work, but right now there is nothing to bid. There are no jobs."
Even more of a concern, Hapuarachy said is the safety of the bridges and roadways in the state.
He has seen the Department of Transportation bid out repair jobs on bridges, when the structures, in his professional opinion, should have been completely replaced. He said it's all because of a lack of funding.
"Sooner or later - probably sooner - things are going to catch up," he said.
From his perspective, Hapuarachy can't really understand why state lawmakers haven't been able to come up with additional funding for the state's roadways.
He was expecting something to be done this year, but the delays in getting a budget passed has him thinking there might not be a light at the end of the tunnel for the state's highways and roads.
"I really don't know why," he said. "I don't think they realize the gravity of the situation. They should go around and walk underneath bridges to see how bad they are. It is terrible."
Reach Andrew Brown at andrew.brown@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4814 or follow @Andy_Ed_Brown on Twitter.