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[seicer]

King Coal Highway / Unsigned Route / Future US 52 at Crum, W.Va. from a few weeks ago. This segment opened circa 2003.
Map

When I first traveled this segment, you were able to drive on the (future) southbound carriageway. It was essentially one lane southbound on the southbound carriageway and one lane southbound on the northbound carriageway, and one lane northbound on the northbound carriageway. The southbound carriageway has since been closed. I'm not sure why this isolated segment was built - it connects nothing to nothing.

[NE2]

Yay elevation modeling.
http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=37.90381,-82.43096&z=18&t=S

[Alps]

Actually, that's sorta what the access road does. Adventure in suspension-land.

[hbelkins]

I've been up there but I don't know what I did with the pictures I took.

Maybe S.P. knows more about this segment of highway.

[NE2]

So I searched for Crum bypass and holy crap hicks: http://www.topix.com/forum/city/crum-wv/T4HU82DR3E1E5FQHK

[hbelkins]

Good lord, it's Topix.

[US 41]

Isn't this supposed to eventually be I-73/74?

[Henry]

Isn't this supposed to eventually be I-73/74?

Technically yes, but there are no plans to build I-73 in WV, OH or MI, nor extend I-74 east from Cincinnati.

[seicer]

Isn't this supposed to eventually be I-73/74?

There are some old signs that read "I-73/74 High Priority Corridor," but the roadways are being built to corridor standards - with intersections and interchanges.

[Bitmapped]

According to WVDOH commissioner's orders and the Mingo County map, US 52 was officially moved onto the King Coal Highway between WV 65 and WV 44 in August 2013.  The old road is CR 252/57.

I was through on the eastern end (CR 8 to WV 44) over Labor Day weekend and didn't really notice and major changes in signage but it was also dusk so I wasn't really looking too closely.

[hbelkins]

It's been more than a year since I have been there, but signage at the WV 44 end definitely indicated US 52 was being routed onto the new highway. There's also a heck of a base or pavement failure on the connector between the old end of WV 44 and the new route.

Is that Mingo County map currently online? The last time I looked at WVDOT's county maps on their site, they were woefully out of date.

[Bitmapped]

Is that Mingo County map currently online? The last time I looked at WVDOT's county maps on their site, they were woefully out of date.

They've updated the maps at http://www.transportation.wv.gov/highways/programplanning/gti/GIS/MAPS/Pages/WVCountyMaps.aspx

[dave19]

I picked up a copy of the new official map at the I-68 welcome center a couple weeks ago; it appears to show 52 on the new alignment. US 48 appears for the first time, shown as complete up to WV 42. It does not show the proposed route between there and Kerens, though.

This map uses different fonts from previous editions and shows physical relief. Overall, it seems to be a nicer looking map, and the city insets on the back are easier to read. However, I think that the font they used for the smallest towns is too small and doesn't show up well against the gray relief.

I also noticed a few errors, which surprised me. In Wyoming County, the road between Oceana and Pineville is marked WV 85 where it should be WV 10. Corridor H is shown as a 2-lane highway on the Elkins bypass section of the route. There are two WV 27s with no ALT indication for the alternate one (ALT 27 needs a different number, IMHO). PA 281 ends at the state line and becomes MD 42 - it should become WV 26. There is no "closed in winter" notation for WV 150 like there used to be.

Speaking of WV 150, it looks like the cover photo was taken somewhere along its length.

[Grzrd]

Isn't this supposed to eventually be I-73/74?

There are some old signs that read "I-73/74 High Priority Corridor," but the roadways are being built to corridor standards - with intersections and interchanges.

This article reports that Bluefield's "bridge to nowhere", interstate-grade bridges sitting unused for seven years, may have construction for an extension to Route 123 around 2019 by virtue of the King Coal Highway being included in the recent STIP:

So the King Coal Highway — or at least the Christine West Bridge section of the future Interstate 73/74 corridor — is finally in the state’s six-year plan. The six-year plan is officially known as the Statewide Transportation Improvement plan. The placement of the King Coal Highway into this six-year plan is a significant and positive development for the region.
This action puts Bluefield’s bridge-to-nowhere on a path toward construction by at least 2019 — if not earlier. This move also places the project into consideration for state funding, as well as future TIGER, or Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grants ....
As folks across the region know, the twin interstate bridges that span high above Stoney Ridge were completed back in 2007. The bridge and road itself comes to an abrupt end at a mountain near the Mercer Mall.
No traffic has traveled across the bridge since its completion more than seven years ago. Instead, the impressive span of steel and concrete goes directly into a mountain — hence the “bridge to nowhere” title ....
Getting the King Coal Highway to the area of Route 123 and the Mercer County Airport would at least create a usable segment of the future I-73/74 corridor, and that is what local officials are trying to do — even if it means building two lanes initially as opposed to four — in order to expedite the creation of a useable segment of the road. The remaining two lanes would then be constructed as soon as additional state or federal dollars are available.

Here is a snip showing the "bridge to nowhere", the mountain, Mercer Mall, Route 123, and the airport:



I assume the extension will (if construction actually occurs) be built to corridor standards.

[rickmastfan67]

Does anybody know if WV-44 is multiplexed with US-52 on the connector road, or has it been shortened back to it's original Southern end?

[hbelkins]

Been two years since I've been there, but when I was there, both routes were signed.

[billtm]

I personally don't think four lanes are necessary, the second carriageway seems like a waste of money to me. (I-73/74 is total bovine fecal matter.) Though I do like how they are making 52 more direct. Also, this project seems to be coming along at a snail's pace. Any big reason why?

[hbelkins]

Funding. And I think a union filed suit against West Virginia because they were constructing the grade by having mining companies strip mine the area and then building the rough grade of the road, instead of using highway contractors to do it.

[rickmastfan67]

Been two years since I've been there, but when I was there, both routes were signed.

But US-52 wasn't officially moved to the King Coal until the last year.  Thus, why I'm asking about WV-44 if it was re-shortened with the official re-route of US-52 for now, or if it's posted with it.  Need picture proof before I go and update CHM for this.

[MikeSantNY78]

I personally don't think four lanes are necessary, the second carriageway seems like a waste of money to me. (I-73/74 is total bovine fecal matter.) Though I do like how they are making 52 more direct. Also, this project seems to be coming along at a snail's pace. Any big reason why?

I could see (understand) I-74 being extended and connected, but if MI, OH, and WV don't care about I-73, could the establishing law be amended to change the routing so it'd take, say, Continental 1/US 219's designation from Roanoke to Buffalo? Curious...

[NE2]

Continental 1 is probably worse than I-73/74 wrt indirectness. Their website outright lies about it being "the 1,500-mile direct route from Toronto to Miami". Ahem, guys? Toronto to Miami is currently 1485 miles via mostly Interstate and all four-lanes. Detouring east at Morgantown adds distance.

[Bitmapped]

Been two years since I've been there, but when I was there, both routes were signed.

But US-52 wasn't officially moved to the King Coal until the last year.  Thus, why I'm asking about WV-44 if it was re-shortened with the official re-route of US-52 for now, or if it's posted with it.  Need picture proof before I go and update CHM for this.

I was on the Mingo County segment last month.  WV 44 is signed the full length of the connector.  Actually, they took the US 52 signs down along the King Coal Highway and connector.  US 52 is signed back on its old route again now.

[hbelkins]

Is the King Coal signed as anything now?

[NE2]

Actually, they took the US 52 signs down along the King Coal Highway and connector.  US 52 is signed back on its old route again now.

Strange. County maps show that old US 52 is now CR 252/57.

[rickmastfan67]

Actually, they took the US 52 signs down along the King Coal Highway and connector.  US 52 is signed back on its old route again now.

Strange. County maps show that old US 52 is now CR 252/57.

Maybe they did this because they never got approval from the AASHTO to do it?  The mystery deepens.