CHARLESTON, WV – The West Virginia Division of Highways installed a new sign Thursday, May 20, to rename Slab Fork Road in Raleigh County in honor of Raleigh County native Bill Withers. 

Passed by the West Virginia Legislature in April, House Concurrent Resolution 20 officially renamed Slab Fork Road from the Lester Highway to the Coalfields Expressway as “Bill Withers Memorial Road.”

“Like Governor Justice always says, we’ve all got to pull the rope together,” said Deputy Secretary of Transportation, Jimmy Wriston. “Our people take a lot of pride in putting the signs up when we have a road naming. That was especially true of this one because of the way Bill Withers’ songs resonate with our workers. The uplifting messages in some of his songs really helped us get through the last year we’ve had.”

Wriston commended Highways crews on maintaining the WVDOH’s high standards of productivity throughout the pandemic, as they continued their work maintaining West Virginia’s roads and improving the state’s infrastructure at the record-setting pace seen over the past three years.

“A song like ‘Lean on Me’ really exemplifies that,” said Wriston. “This is West Virginia and we pull together; that’s just what we do.”

Withers, who died March 30, 2020, is best known for writing and recording the hit songs “Ain’t No Sunshine,” “Lovely Day,” and “Lean on Me.” He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015.