US 340 MD/VA/WV freeway/expressway gap

[ARMOURERERIC]

I lived in Knoxville MD 1988-1991, went to Harpers Ferry every weekend to shop at the flea market.  Back then this stretch was allready having congestion and high accident rate issues, but it looks like no improvements have been made 20 years later, I know ROW is tight, and you got some National Park issues as well, but is there anything in the pipeline on this?

[froggie]

Not in Virginia.

[Beltway]

Not in Virginia.

Not in Maryland ... the bridge and the Potomac River belongs to them and they would have to provide either a new bridge or widen the existing bridge.

The section in Virginia is less than a mile and it would not be an issue for them.  Also, about 20 years ago they 4-laned US-340 between the VA-7 Berryville Bypass and the WV state line.

There is a 4-mile segment of WV US-340 that is still 2 lanes just north of the VA border.  The only other missing (non-4-lane) segment in the interregional corridor Berryville-Frederick is near Harpers Ferry, and that passes through all three states.  It most definitely needs to be a modern 4-lane divided highway, and needed that 30 years ago.

US-340 connects to I-70, I-270 and US-15 bypass at Frederick MD, and to the VA-7 4-lane interregional corridor at Berryville VA.

[hbelkins]

The downhill section from the end of the four-lane to the WV/VA state line at Harpers Ferry isn't that bad. It's a newer alignment and has a truck climbing lane. I'm not sure what the issues are that are hanging up the four-laning from the WV/VA state line to the existing four-lane between Berryville and Charles Town.

[cpzilliacus]

I have not been out that way for some time, but I heard a traffic report on Washington's WTOP Radio this morning that mentioned that contractors working for Maryland SHA had a lane blocked on the bridge for a work zone, so they were alternating traffic across in one single lane. 

This also points up the reality of just how far the Washington region has "sprawled," in spite of much Smart Growth rhetoric.  Twenty years ago, even a total closure of this bridge would not have merited a mention on D.C.-area traffic reports.

[cpzilliacus]

WTOP Radio: US 340 study targets congestion in W.Va., Md., Va.

Transportation officials in West Virginia, Maryland and Virginia are looking for ways to reduce congestion on U.S. 340.

Media outlets report that a study of traffic on the highway is planned from Charles Town, W.Va., to Frederick, Md. The study will include a section that runs through Loudoun County, Va.