MOUNDSVILLE, W.Va-- With mild air over the weekend into Monday and more below-freezing temperatures in the forecast, highway officials in West Virginia are getting themselves prepared for what many know as "road slip season."

Those unpredictable slips are happening more in one local county than anywhere in the state, and it's costing the Division of Highways millions.

"Route 2 at one time was sliding a lot towards the river. There’s miles and miles of piling walls on Route 2. We just finished up the narrows—(that) is a prime example," said Dan Sikora, District 6 Engineer for the WVDOH.

Aside from the topsy-turvy temperatures, Sikora faults weak soil in the area, saying added moisture like melting snow or rain makes the problem worse.

Often, the fix consists of a solid material laced with metal pilings, driven well into the earth to stabilize the neighboring road.

There are almost 500 active slips in the northern panhandle. Marshall County is the runaway hotspot with 230.

"It's a larger county, and it has a lot of these poor soils in it," said Sikora.

The cost of rehabbing an ailing roadside may be even more surprising than the sheer number of slips.

There’s currently a price tag of nearly $53 million to repair the 492 slips in the northern panhandle alone.

"We can't get funding for a slip or even submit it as a slip until we at least start to lose a shoulder," said Sikora.

Tax dollars and private money only account for about $300,000 to $400,000 per year to fix the slips.

Not having the funding to fix them all, Sikora says, the DOH prioritizes based on traffic count and how much of the road is affected.