Mercer County, WV highway history project

[Andrew T.]

Lately I've been bitten by a resurgence of interest in transportation history.  They say to write about what you know, and write about a topic that no one else has exploited.  So I did:

The Roads and Rails of Mercer County, West Virginia, Part 1: Primary highways.

These pages took a month of work, much of it spent drawing vector maps like this one:



Why Mercer County?  Simple:  I am a West Virginia native, and this was my birthplace and home.  I admittedly did not have a good experience there, but I found it cathartic to exhume my old memories and get the last word in on the surroundings I once called home.

On the positive side: Mercer County is a fairly unique place to explore, with highways that run the gamut from Interstates to abandoned two-tracks. The county is surrounded by Virginia on three sides.  It's also a past or present terminus of US 52, US 219, and the West Virginia Turnpike, which adds another element of interest.

[usends]

Informative pages, thank you!  I struggled for a long time to figure out exactly where in Princeton US 219 ended historically.  Since you're a former resident who has extensively researched highways in that area, please let me know if you take issue with anything I've written about the Princeton and/or Bluefield endpoints on these pages:
https://www.usends.com/219.html
https://www.usends.com/52.html

[hbelkins]

Mercer County is a neat place. Lots of unique highway features to explore. WV 71 is an odd route. I don't understand why it's a primary highway, since much of it is little more than a one-lane route between Matoaka and WV 10.

[Andrew T.]

Informative pages, thank you!  I struggled for a long time to figure out exactly where in Princeton US 219 ended historically.

US 219's historical terminus in Princeton is indeed confusing, and the directional split around the courthouse square doesn't help!

What I do know is this:  Originally, there was two-way traffic on all sides of the courthouse.  This is evident in 1930s and 1940s photos that show cars parked in both directions.

One of the most interesting pictures I've found from this era is this postcard image of the south face of the courthouse (Walker Street at Princeton Avenue).  A US 219 marker is visible...indicating that in the days of two-way traffic, US 19 was routed down the west side of the courthouse square, US 219 was routed down the east side, and the illustrated scene was the spot where they touched.  US 219 would have also been routed down Main Street to Mercer in that era, as on this map.

Some 1940s State Road Commission maps imply that US 219 was rerouted down Honaker Avenue...but they're not detailed enough to prove that this happened. As far as I know, US 219's routing remained unchanged through the end of the decade.

In 1951 a one-way traffic flow was implemented around the courthouse square, and pandemonium ensued!

One way traffic around the courthouse has been started, but there are many drivers who don't read signs or don't pay any attention to them. A state road sign at the entrance to Alvis Street from Main has been taking a terrific beating as cars knocked it over. Traffic moving east on Main Street bound for the Bluefield Road is expected to move past the front of the courthouse and go out on Scott Street. Coming in off South Walker Street, traffic is supposed to move to the right on Alvis street to Main Street.  Traffic moving in from West Main is supposed to keep to right going around the courthouse on Scott Street thence to Alvis.

A few months earlier (Dec. 1950), downtown truck traffic began to be routed down Honaker Avenue instead of Main in order to address noise complaints around the Princeton Memorial Hospital (which is long gone).  Both of these developments would have almost certainly resulted in 219's terminus being moved...either to Alvis and East Main, or to Walker and Honaker, or possibly to both (one terminus for cars and another for trucks, or one terminus for northbound traffic and one for southbound following the split that WV 20 has today).

Unfortunately, none of the news stories I've been able to dig up are specific about how the routing of 219 was affected by these changes.  So this may remain a mystery for years to come...

[Mapmikey]

Your Mercer County route pages are very detailed so I don't imagine my WV Annex pages have too much to add, but I do have two items of interest:

When WV 71 had its split routing at Glenwood Park, the southern leg was officially WV 71 Spur from at least 1964 until the CO to decommission it in 1977.  This comes from an e-mail question I posed to WVDOT.

Second, there was a US 52 Spur in Bluefield shown on this 1980 map of Bluefield (sorry about the resolution but this is how it is on the WV Archives site).  I'm not seeing the point of this route...




There were also officially unnumbered primary routes in WV, 3 of which were in Mercer County, though they all did become one of the primary routes we know today.

Specific dates for lots of primary road improvements and/or designation changes can be gleaned from the WV Annual Highway reports, especially the ones from the 1930s.

[Andrew T.]

Your Mercer County route pages are very detailed so I don't imagine my WV Annex pages have too much to add

Your site was a valuable reference when I was spot-checking maps and filling in details, so thanks!

Second, there was a US 52 Spur in Bluefield shown on this 1980 map of Bluefield (sorry about the resolution but this is how it is on the WV Archives site).  I'm not seeing the point of this route...

Weird! The only possible rationale I can think of for US 52 Spur's existence is the Bluefield Community Hospital, which opened in 1979.  I don't remember this route being signed in the mid-1990s, so the spur route may have been gone by then.  It's marked on the maps as CR 52/25 now.

(And speaking of weird, the unnumbered routes make my head hurt...)

This is a long-term project, and I'm sure there will be more to add in due course.  For example, I'm sure that several state routes went through minor routing changes in the 1920s and 1930s that I haven't yet gotten to the bottom of!  But the next objective I have planned is to write about railroads.

[hbelkins]

Your Mercer County route pages are very detailed so I don't imagine my WV Annex pages have too much to add

Your site was a valuable reference when I was spot-checking maps and filling in details, so thanks!

Second, there was a US 52 Spur in Bluefield shown on this 1980 map of Bluefield (sorry about the resolution but this is how it is on the WV Archives site).  I'm not seeing the point of this route...

Weird! The only possible rationale I can think of for US 52 Spur's existence is the Bluefield Community Hospital, which opened in 1979.  I don't remember this route being signed in the mid-1990s, so the spur route may have been gone by then.  It's marked on the maps as CR 52/25 now.

(And speaking of weird, the unnumbered routes make my head hurt...)

This is a long-term project, and I'm sure there will be more to add in due course.  For example, I'm sure that several state routes went through minor routing changes in the 1920s and 1930s that I haven't yet gotten to the bottom of!  But the next objective I have planned is to write about railroads.

Is that US 52 Spur the route that becomes VA 102 at the state line, or one of the other routes that connects to US 460?

[NE2]

Is that US 52 Spur the route that becomes VA 102 at the state line, or one of the other routes that connects to US 460?

No.

[froggie]

Is that US 52 Spur the route that becomes VA 102 at the state line, or one of the other routes that connects to US 460?

The latter.  That US 52 Spur is shown along today's Cherry St, which goes by the Bluefield Hospital as Andrew noted.  Connects to 460 via Maryland Ave (first signal on 460 on the WV side of the state line).

[hbelkins]

OK, I remember now. VA 102 becomes Stadium Drive and intersects that route. I've been across both routes, but it's been a few years.