Welch v. Department of Highways

WALLACE, JUDGE:

This claim arose as the result of a fall by the claimant in a hole on the bridge across Elk River at Clendenin, West Virginia. The claimant had lived in the vicinity for approximately 40 years, and in Clendenin for six years prior to her accident.

On the morning of August 16, 1976, the claimant and her daughter, granddaughter, and daughter-in-law were going by bus to Charleston. With other passengers, they walked westerly across the Clendenin Bridge to the bus stop on West Virginia Route 119. They used the pedestrian walkway on the right-hand or upper side of the bridge. The…