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[SP Cook]

I know West Virginia has a couple of special rate plans for its E-ZPass program. If they are concerned about capturing out-of-state revenue, perhaps they should really sweeten the deal for in-state drivers. Perhaps lower the rate for WV drivers to 50 cents or $1 per toll gate, and raise the rate for out-of-staters to $4 or $5. Or maybe even institute AET and allow vehicles with in-state plates to use the turnpike for free.

Not to go off-topic, but the Germans (who are the only prosperous European country who do not toll) want to toll the autobahns but make the entire amount a tax credit, meaning Germans would in effect drive for free, assuming they have income.  It is tied up in some kind of Euro "court". 

Anyway, the WV ez-pass deal is OK.  You can get an ez-pass for either $5/year and pay $1.30 per mainline toll booth (use of the broken promise Corridor L toll booth is free) rather than $2, or you can get one for $95/year per mainline toll booth (again the Corridor L toll booth is free) and you can drive the road for "free" all you want.  There is also a $5/year "free" pass for just the Corridor L booth.  Then up to $1200 of tolls are deductions from your WV income.  Since most people pay a 6.5% state income tax, that means that you get 6.5% of what you spend back off your taxes. 

I'm not big on that sort of thing.  Because it just becomes a slippery slope.  I can drive in WV for free, but then KY tolls all the roads and you can drive them for free but I have to pay $50 every couple miles, and then Tennessee charges both of us $100 and so on. 

[cpzilliacus]

Not to go off-topic, but the Germans (who are the only prosperous European country who do not toll) want to toll the autobahns but make the entire amount a tax credit, meaning Germans would in effect drive for free, assuming they have income.  It is tied up in some kind of Euro "court". 

I must respectfully disagree (in part) with the above.

Germany tolls its autobahn network, but only for (what we in North America call) commercial vehicles.

Denmark has tolls on the E20 Great Belt Bridge crossing, and on the E20 Øresund Bridge-Tunnel to Sweden, and will have tolls on the new tunnel crossing between Puttgarten, Germany and Rødby.  Otherwise, no tolls.

Finland has no road tolls at all, though it has been discussed from time to time.

Norway has quite a few toll roads and toll crossings.

Sweden has tolls on the E20 Øresund Bridge-Tunnel to Denmark and on the E6 bridge to Norway, and has congestion tax toll cordons around the downtown areas of Stockholm and Gothenburg.   

The revenue collected in Stockholm is being used to build a western circumferential highway for "thru" auto and truck traffic, much of which  will be in blasted-out tunnel.  Not sure what the revenue collected in Gothenburg is used for.

Otherwise, all roads in Sweden are free of tolls.

[seicer]

Parkways: Traffic study misses mark by at least 88 miles

As the Parkways Authority prepares to commission a new traffic study in preparation to sell a new round of Turnpike bonds early next year, Authority members Thursday debated why the most recent traffic study, for $173 million of bonds sold in 2018, turned out to be so far off the mark.

The study, by CDM Smith, projected the doubling of Turnpike tolls earlier this year would cause commercial truck traffic to drop 19.6 percent. It actually has been up about 1 percent.

It also estimated that more than 800,000 drivers, both in and outside of West Virginia, would snap up the offer for super-discounted E-Z Pass transponders — at $8 a year for unlimited use of the Turnpike, compared to the normal $285 charge. Instead, Parkways sold just over 100,000, bringing the total number of unlimited use transponders in service to about 150,000.

[...]

[SteveG1988]

Parkways: Traffic study misses mark by at least 88 miles

As the Parkways Authority prepares to commission a new traffic study in preparation to sell a new round of Turnpike bonds early next year, Authority members Thursday debated why the most recent traffic study, for $173 million of bonds sold in 2018, turned out to be so far off the mark.

The study, by CDM Smith, projected the doubling of Turnpike tolls earlier this year would cause commercial truck traffic to drop 19.6 percent. It actually has been up about 1 percent.

It also estimated that more than 800,000 drivers, both in and outside of West Virginia, would snap up the offer for super-discounted E-Z Pass transponders — at $8 a year for unlimited use of the Turnpike, compared to the normal $285 charge. Instead, Parkways sold just over 100,000, bringing the total number of unlimited use transponders in service to about 150,000.

[...]

Yeah...About the "diverting due to tolls thing" the article is 100% right on why trucks use the WV Turnpike. There is only one viable alternative to it, and it only works if you're coming from the North, or going to the north via I-79. US19 over the New River Gorge is a fairly modern highway that cuts travel time if you are coming down I-79 or going to 79. Otherwise...need to connect from Ohio to the Roanoke Area? Best routing for a truck is US35,I-64,WV Turnpike,US460, I81.

[hbelkins]

Parkways: Traffic study misses mark by at least 88 miles

As the Parkways Authority prepares to commission a new traffic study in preparation to sell a new round of Turnpike bonds early next year, Authority members Thursday debated why the most recent traffic study, for $173 million of bonds sold in 2018, turned out to be so far off the mark.

The study, by CDM Smith, projected the doubling of Turnpike tolls earlier this year would cause commercial truck traffic to drop 19.6 percent. It actually has been up about 1 percent.

It also estimated that more than 800,000 drivers, both in and outside of West Virginia, would snap up the offer for super-discounted E-Z Pass transponders — at $8 a year for unlimited use of the Turnpike, compared to the normal $285 charge. Instead, Parkways sold just over 100,000, bringing the total number of unlimited use transponders in service to about 150,000.

[...]

Yeah...About the "diverting due to tolls thing" the article is 100% right on why trucks use the WV Turnpike. There is only one viable alternative to it, and it only works if you're coming from the North, or going to the north via I-79. US19 over the New River Gorge is a fairly modern highway that cuts travel time if you are coming down I-79 or going to 79. Otherwise...need to connect from Ohio to the Roanoke Area? Best routing for a truck is US35,I-64,WV Turnpike,US460, I81.

The alternatives to bypass the toll booths between Beckley and Charleston aren't that great for passenger cars, and trucks are prohibited on the parallel county routes -- at least the one that runs between Mossy and Pax.

[Dougtone]

A 14 minute documentary from 2003 about the planning, construction, usage and future of the West Virginia turnpike, a highway that was a precursor to the Interstate Highway System.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qshc2-TDMDc

[GCrites80s]

That's a kind of sucky edit of the full 47-minute film. The whole thing used to be on YouTube or Vimeo, but I can see why it might have gotten taken off for copyright reasons. I know they used to sell DVDs of it (they were for sale at the 50th Anniversary celebration in 2004 at Tamarack, at which they showed the whole movie) but I can't find any for sale now.

[Tom958]

I just found out about the widening of the Turnpike between the I-64-exit 40 and US 19-exit 48. Just in terms of roadgeek OCD, I find widening the overlap of the I-77-US 19 Wytheville-Morganton axis with the I-77 and I-64 axes to be satisfying, as if a bit more will soon be right with the world.

It's a bit puzzling to me that the widening of the northbound side extends 1.1 miles further north than that of the southbound side, extending completely through the US 19 interchange rather than ending at the offramp to US 19 north. The added lane will apparently end just after the merger of the onramp from southbound US 19, with two lanes ending almost simultaneously. My first thought was that maybe a bit of a climbing lane effect was needed, but in fact there's a legit climbing lane on the southbound side beginning 2.3 miles before the US 19 bridges and extending through the interchange to the Tamarack exit. Does anyone here know wassup with that?

2020 SUMMER CONSTRUCTION PROJECT PLANS
FOR THE WEST VIRGINIA TURNPIKE
In July, 2018 the West Virginia Turnpike began a Highway Total Reconstruction Project in the Beckley area. This project will run thru October 2021.
Location of Total Reconstruction Project:
Raleigh County:
 North of I-64 Interchange Exit 40 – Mile marker 40.2 to 47.8 North
 South of North Beckley Exit 48 – Mile marker 46.7 to 40.7 South

https://www.google.com/maps/@37.8366335,-81.2195613,680m/data=!3m1!1e3

[seicer]

I was curious about that myself. Perhaps it's a prelude to the future widening to the north, which will be an absolute nightmare.

I posted these recent photos of widening in the vicinity of the WV Routes 16/97 interchange which shows the double trumpet interchange that was added during the widening of the Turnpike back in the 1970s and 1980s. The ticket-based tolling was never implemented after the widening project was completed, although the unusual configuration of this interchange would seem to indicate that it was set up for that function. Instead, two of the ramps had exact change coin baskets, the remnants of which are still visible.

--

[Dirt Roads]

I just found out about the widening of the Turnpike between the I-64-exit 40 and US 19-exit 48. just in terms of roadgeek OCD, I find it satisfying that the overlap of the I-77-US 19 Wytheville-Morganton axis with the I-77 and I-64 axes to be satisfying, as if a bit more will soon be right with the world.

It's a bit puzzling to me that the widening of the northbound side extends 1.1 miles further north than that of the southbound side, extending completely through the US 19 interchange rather than ending at the offramp to US 19 north. The added lane will apparently end just after the merger of the onramp from southbound US 19, with two lanes ending almost simultaneously. My first thought was that maybe a bit of a climbing lane effect was needed, but in fact there's a legit climbing lane on the southbound side beginning 2.3 miles before the US 19 bridges and extending through the interchange to the Tamarack exit. Does anyone here know wassup with that?

While this project is technically a widening, there has been a need for an additional truck lane in both directions of this section ever since it opened in pieces in the mid-1980s (just prior to the completion of I-64).  The interchange with Corridor L is atop a huge ridge, so the additional lane would likely be to allow a safe distance for the US-19 onramp to merge with the "truck lane" prior to dropping off.  West Virginia used to be notorious for dropping its truck lanes at the top of the crest, and in many cases trucks would stall on the upgrade while long strings of cars were platooning to try to cut off the trucker.

[hbelkins]

As many times as I've used that interchange, I've never seen the remnants of the coin baskets.

I see a removed overhead for the I-64 east/I-77 south split. Will the backlit sign remain up?

[seicer]

You can see the concrete patching that was done when the booth was removed here:



That's about as much as I can find these days. I should fly over the other double trumpet interchanges as some still have the offices intact. As far as the backlit signs - I think the gantries are all being replaced. I hope that the new signs are a bit more compliant and less ugly - the Turnpike had about the ugliest signs out there because of the stretched fonts and awful kerning.

[hbelkins]

That's about as much as I can find these days. I should fly over the other double trumpet interchanges as some still have the offices intact. As far as the backlit signs - I think the gantries are all being replaced. I hope that the new signs are a bit more compliant and less ugly - the Turnpike had about the ugliest signs out there because of the stretched fonts and awful kerning.

A lot of the signage between the Cabin Creek toll plaza and the US 19 connector was awful, but it has since been replaced. There are a few oddballs left between US 19 and the I-64 split (the WV 3 and WV 16/97 exits). And also a bit of button copy. I'll hate to see that gone.

[18 wheel warrior]

Now that the turnpike widening project through Beckley is (apparently) complete, why hasn't the speed limit been increased back to 70mph? I drive a truck pulling shipping containers out of Norfolk through there frequently and am puzzled as to what's the deal here. 

[ARMOURERERIC]

I drove thru there two weeks ago, the overhead lane drop warning sign on the turnpike just north of the wb 64 on ramp was still in place, cars and trucks scrambling to move over when it was not needed

[The Ghostbuster]

Is it hard for anyone to believe that the WVT was only two lanes wide until 1987? Or that the exits were numbered sequentially 1-6 (rising as one went southward)? Those were the days.

[Dirt Roads]

Is it hard for anyone to believe that the WVT was only two lanes wide until 1987? Or that the exits were numbered sequentially 1-6 (rising as one went southward)? Those were the days.

Most of it was already four-laned and up to [near] Interstate standards by then.  But I cut my teeth on the West Virginia Turnpike when it was all two-laned, long before the [then] Turnpike Commission planted those flexible yellow plastic sticks down the middle along the yellow double striping.  At age 16, my dad wanted me to tackle passing a semi-truck going uphill with oncoming traffic (and he prepared me for that lesson before we took off on vacation).  It wasn't so intense driving a huge Pontiac with a 400/4bbl, but the first time I needed to do it in a Dodge Dart was quite intimidating.  I still wonder if he considered that a "Right of Passage" (pun intended) for growing up in West Virginia.

[SP Cook]

Is it hard for anyone to believe that the WVT was only two lanes wide until 1987? Or that the exits were numbered sequentially 1-6 (rising as one went southward)? Those were the days.

It is all a part of the sad history of highway construction in WV.  With a few exceptions, after the Huntington-Charleston 64 and Charleston-Parkersburg 77, the state built all of its interstates and corridors in pretty much the reverse order of importance. 

One has to ask why one cent was spent on fairly minor roads like Corridor D, Corridor E, and even I-79, when the Turnpike, and the section of US 60 used to connect the two ends of I-64, were 2 lane death-roads.  77 and 64, with the most traffic volume (by far) and the most economic development potential (by far) should have been finished 30 years before they were.

[Rothman]

I've found the development that has happened along I-79 to be quite noticeable on my drives down through there over the last 40 years.

[hbelkins]

I've found the development that has happened along I-79 to be quite noticeable on my drives down through there over the last 40 years.

My first foray up I-79, I was surprised to see that shopping center at the Elkview exit out in the middle of nowhere.

[Dirt Roads]

Is it hard for anyone to believe that the WVT was only two lanes wide until 1987? Or that the exits were numbered sequentially 1-6 (rising as one went southward)? Those were the days.

It is all a part of the sad history of highway construction in WV.  With a few exceptions, after the Huntington-Charleston 64 and Charleston-Parkersburg 77, the state built all of its interstates and corridors in pretty much the reverse order of importance. 

One has to ask why one cent was spent on fairly minor roads like Corridor D, Corridor E, and even I-79, when the Turnpike, and the section of US 60 used to connect the two ends of I-64, were 2 lane death-roads.  77 and 64, with the most traffic volume (by far) and the most economic development potential (by far) should have been finished 30 years before they were.

I suspect that was a result of how far down the food chain West Virginia was on the priority list at FHWA for the Interstate, versus how important West Virginia was for the Appalachian Regional Development programs.  Back then, West Virginia and Kentucky were continually fighting for first place in coal production.  Corridor D was easy pickings, but really didn't bring much in economic development.  To be honest, I think that Corridor D was also intended for hauling coal from North-Central West Virginia to the coal port of Cleveland, both of which died out when the Chessie System refocused its main coal hauling services towards Baltimore, Newport News and consumers in South-Central Ohio and the Midwest. 

Also, you don't normal think of senators as territorial, but I suspect that Jennings Randolph was instrumental in getting Corridor D and Corridor E much sooner than his junior senator Bob Byrd could get Corridor L, Corridor G and Corridor Q.  Anyhow, it is sad that the Appalachian Corridor system left the Interstate routes in West Virginia in the dust.

With a few exceptions, after the Huntington-Charleston 64 and Charleston-Parkersburg 77, the state built all of its interstates and corridors in pretty much the reverse order of importance. 

Legend has it that WVDOH was pushing hard to build out I-79 between Charleston and Morgantown to bolster Saturday game day traffic heading to the old Mountaineer Field.  It was once a brutal trip that almost took 6 hours to get on campus at WVU, whereas now you can make the trip in about 2-1/2 hours if you avoid the crush (and the new Mountaineer Field is further off of I-79 than the Downtown campus).  Also (as I've mentioned too many times), driving on sections of I-79 that was still under construction was encouraged on game days from 1973 to 1975 (which was sometimes dangerous to hop off of the new 6-inch concrete onto the skidpan.  I ought to post this in new Football Game Day thread:  https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=31979.0#lastPost

[GCrites80s]

Is it hard for anyone to believe that the WVT was only two lanes wide until 1987? Or that the exits were numbered sequentially 1-6 (rising as one went southward)? Those were the days.

It was quite annoying in the '80s having to go back and forth between 4 lanes and 2 that many times. By then it would back up every time. As a little kid with no tech in the car and parents who liked the radio off it was excruciating. The radio barely worked anyway between the mountains and most local stations being low-powered (but not Low-Power).

You were dying for a service plaza by the time you got to Beckley when you were going south since you weren't allowed to go into the northbound ones from the southbound lanes anymore and a lot of the exits were like Pax which had just nothing. And you weren't allowed to enter the Beckley one either if you were going north at that time. I can't remember if they built the ramps/overpasses to restore northbound access to Beckley at the same time they built Tamarack or if they did it a few years before.

[Dirt Roads]

You were dying for a service plaza by the time you got to Beckley when you were going south since you weren't allowed to go into the northbound ones from the southbound lanes anymore and a lot of the exits were like Pax which had just nothing. And you weren't allowed to enter the Beckley one either if you were going north at that time. I can't remember if they built the ramps/overpasses to restore northbound access to Beckley at the same time they built Tamarack or if they did it a few years before.

Indeed.  Back in those days there was the southbound Truck Service Area just beyond the northbound Morton Service Area, which had "No Facilities" posted.  Eventually, the [then] Turnpike Commission put in a bunch of porta-potties.

[VTGoose]

Is it hard for anyone to believe that the WVT was only two lanes wide until 1987? Or that the exits were numbered sequentially 1-6 (rising as one went southward)? Those were the days.

It is all a part of the sad history of highway construction in WV.  With a few exceptions, after the Huntington-Charleston 64 and Charleston-Parkersburg 77, the state built all of its interstates and corridors in pretty much the reverse order of importance. 

Even at that, getting to I-77 from Charleston wasn't easy. I started driving between Blacksburg and Pittsburgh in the mid-70s (and tried just about every routing). The first trips to Blacksburg were via the Pennsylvania Turnpike to Breezewood, then working to reach I-81 for the long trip from Winchester south. The alternative that came into play over that long routing was to take the turnpike ("A modern two-lane highway" the sign at the Princeton toll booth proclaimed) to Charleston, take city streets from south to north and out into the countryside to reach the current end of I-77, then that interstate to I-70 in Ohio to head east to Little Washington and I-79 almost to Pittsburgh (we lived in Moon Township near the airport, so had to get to the Parkway from the current north end of I-79). I-77 slowly took shape at both ends and all along the Turnpike, slowly adding new lanes and some new alignments. Getting through Charleston got a little easier and I-77 finally came into the city, although it took a while for I-79 to get there. By that time, U.S. 19 was making its way south from Sutton, although it still took back roads to get from U.S. 60 down to Rich Creek. Once the New River Bridge opened, Beckley was the target although it still took a few years to cover the short distance from the original U.S. 19 to the Turnpike.

[seicer]

You were dying for a service plaza by the time you got to Beckley when you were going south since you weren't allowed to go into the northbound ones from the southbound lanes anymore and a lot of the exits were like Pax which had just nothing. And you weren't allowed to enter the Beckley one either if you were going north at that time. I can't remember if they built the ramps/overpasses to restore northbound access to Beckley at the same time they built Tamarack or if they did it a few years before.

Indeed.  Back in those days there was the southbound Truck Service Area just beyond the northbound Morton Service Area, which had "No Facilities" posted.  Eventually, the [then] Turnpike Commission put in a bunch of porta-potties.

The northbound access to the Beckley service area (and the Tamarack) opened in 1996.

I've read someplace (a news article?) that that interchange is unfinished, with extensions planned west to Dry Hill Road and east to Pinewood Drive to provide a west-east connection through the northern half of Beckley.