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[hbelkins]

On the signed West Virginia state primary highway system is an Alt. WV 2, just south of the WV 7 intersection near Moundsville. I'm not sure why this route exists and is signed as an alternate for WV 2 instead of a county route. Why does WV 2 need a signed alternate route here?

The way West Virginia signs its alternate routes is odd, anyway. For the most part, they're actually spurs (Alt. WV 10) or business routes (Alt. WV 34, Alt. US 52). Alt. WV 27 is especially strange, as it does not intersect WV 27.

[NE2]

Ohio River flooding?

[hbelkins]

Ohio River flooding?

That segment does not seem to be any closer to the river than many other sections of the route.

Rockslides are the other possibility I pondered, but the route is four lanes and it would seem to be pretty easy to maintain two-way traffic in the southbound lanes (nearest the river).

[Bitmapped]

My guess is rockslides as well. The road was originally a county route that was promoted to Alt WV 2 sometime after 1946. I suspect it just never got removed up after WV 2 was widened. There's also a poorly signed "Emergency WV 2" that follows county routes from Proctor to Moundsville in case WV 2 had to be shut down, but signage is such that it's basically impossible to follow and some of the roads aren't in good enough condition you'd want through traffic routed over them.

WVDOH's handling of Alternate routes is screwy. There are some unsigned alternates (Alt US 250 = Country Club Road in Fairmont, Alt WV 72 = Shower Bath Road near Kingwood) and former alternates like WV 18 (former Alt WV 18) as well.

[hbelkins]

Alt WV 72 = Shower Bath Road near Kingwood)

From WV 72, it's not signed at all. From WV 26, it's signed only as Shower Bath Road (a hilarious road name) to turn west. I drove it Sunday. It's in terrible condition. The pavement was so rough that 15 mph was too fast. A few holes had been patched with cold mix. It made me wonder just how bad they were before, given how bad the rest of the road was. I've driven on county roads that are wider and smoother.

I think I remember seeing an "Emergency WV 2" signed years ago when I was in that area, but never drove it.

[Mapmikey]

On the signed West Virginia state primary highway system is an Alt. WV 2, just south of the WV 7 intersection near Moundsville. I'm not sure why this route exists and is signed as an alternate for WV 2 instead of a county route. Why does WV 2 need a signed alternate route here?

The way West Virginia signs its alternate routes is odd, anyway. For the most part, they're actually spurs (Alt. WV 10) or business routes (Alt. WV 34, Alt. US 52). Alt. WV 27 is especially strange, as it does not intersect WV 27.

I can confirm that this WV 2 ALT was never part of WV 2, though the northern few miles of the WV 2 Emergency route was WV 2 until btw 1927-31.

Finally gotten going on the West Virginia Highway Annex...

[hbelkins]

On the signed West Virginia state primary highway system is an Alt. WV 2, just south of the WV 7 intersection near Moundsville. I'm not sure why this route exists and is signed as an alternate for WV 2 instead of a county route. Why does WV 2 need a signed alternate route here?

The way West Virginia signs its alternate routes is odd, anyway. For the most part, they're actually spurs (Alt. WV 10) or business routes (Alt. WV 34, Alt. US 52). Alt. WV 27 is especially strange, as it does not intersect WV 27.

I can confirm that this WV 2 ALT was never part of WV 2, though the northern few miles of the WV 2 Emergency route was WV 2 until btw 1927-31.

Finally gotten going on the West Virginia Highway Annex...

I'm drawing a blank on Emergency WV 2, although I know I've seen the signs for it before.

[Bitmapped]

On the signed West Virginia state primary highway system is an Alt. WV 2, just south of the WV 7 intersection near Moundsville. I'm not sure why this route exists and is signed as an alternate for WV 2 instead of a county route. Why does WV 2 need a signed alternate route here?

The way West Virginia signs its alternate routes is odd, anyway. For the most part, they're actually spurs (Alt. WV 10) or business routes (Alt. WV 34, Alt. US 52). Alt. WV 27 is especially strange, as it does not intersect WV 27.

I can confirm that this WV 2 ALT was never part of WV 2, though the northern few miles of the WV 2 Emergency route was WV 2 until btw 1927-31.

Finally gotten going on the West Virginia Highway Annex...

I'm drawing a blank on Emergency WV 2, although I know I've seen the signs for it before.

Emergency WV 2 is a sparsely signed route that uses county routes to bypass Natrium in case of an accident at the plant. It runs from Moundsville to Proctor. It's Roberts Ridge Road to St. Joseph-Baker Hill Road to Proctor Creek Road (CR 89). The middle part of that isn't something you'd really want any through traffic using at all, and the route is so poorly signed I wouldn't trust traffic to be able to follow it anyway. DOH really just needs to take down the signage that remains.

[hbelkins]

No signage at all northbound. I drove it in that direction a few weeks ago and saw nothing.

[muzer]

I grew up 25 miles south of Alt. WV 2 and remember as a kid, why it was there.

Back in 1970, when I was 4-years old, my parents frequently took me from our home just outside of Paden City to Moundsville so that I could visit a podiatrist by the name of Dr. Pritt to help fix my feet (didn't have arches). I remember that Dad had to take Alt. 2 in order to get to Moundsville. WVDOH was in the process of "twinning" WV 2 and was cutting back the hillside to complete the 4-lanes between the ends of Alt. 2. So all traffic was rerouted onto Alt. 2 until the Rt. 2 section of the 4-lane was completed.

As you approached the northern end of Alt. 2 in Moundsville, you had to go thru two switchback turns to descend from the hilltop back into the valley. I remember being petrified as cement trucks and tractor-trailers headed the other way (southbound) passed by as we all went thru these two switchbacks.

At that time, there was only a Moundsville ferry (no Moundsville bridge) and no I-470 or I-470 bridge. To use Ohio as a detour around this, you had to cross on I-70 on the Fort Henry Bridge at one end, then cross at the New Martinsville Bridge at the other end. You could also use the Bellaire Bridge, but even back then it wasn't "heavy truck" friendly.

[seicer]

Emergency WV 2 is a sparsely signed route that uses county routes to bypass Natrium in case of an accident at the plant. It runs from Moundsville to Proctor. It's Roberts Ridge Road to St. Joseph-Baker Hill Road to Proctor Creek Road (CR 89). The middle part of that isn't something you'd really want any through traffic using at all, and the route is so poorly signed I wouldn't trust traffic to be able to follow it anyway. DOH really just needs to take down the signage that remains.

Is this an Emergency WV 2 sign: https://goo.gl/maps/rADzRpYqdCoMk1xq5 ?

[Mapmikey]

I grew up 25 miles south of Alt. WV 2 and remember as a kid, why it was there.

Back in 1970, when I was 4-years old, my parents frequently took me from our home just outside of Paden City to Moundsville so that I could visit a podiatrist by the name of Dr. Pritt to help fix my feet (didn't have arches). I remember that Dad had to take Alt. 2 in order to get to Moundsville. WVDOH was in the process of "twinning" WV 2 and was cutting back the hillside to complete the 4-lanes between the ends of Alt. 2. So all traffic was rerouted onto Alt. 2 until the Rt. 2 section of the 4-lane was completed.

As you approached the northern end of Alt. 2 in Moundsville, you had to go thru two switchback turns to descend from the hilltop back into the valley. I remember being petrified as cement trucks and tractor-trailers headed the other way (southbound) passed by as we all went thru these two switchbacks.

At that time, there was only a Moundsville ferry (no Moundsville bridge) and no I-470 or I-470 bridge. To use Ohio as a detour around this, you had to cross on I-70 on the Fort Henry Bridge at one end, then cross at the New Martinsville Bridge at the other end. You could also use the Bellaire Bridge, but even back then it wasn't "heavy truck" friendly.

WV 2 Alt goes back to at least 1958 but was still CR 19 in 1949...

modified to reflect that I found WV 2 ALT on the 1958 WV Official

[Bitmapped]

Emergency WV 2 is a sparsely signed route that uses county routes to bypass Natrium in case of an accident at the plant. It runs from Moundsville to Proctor. It's Roberts Ridge Road to St. Joseph-Baker Hill Road to Proctor Creek Road (CR 89). The middle part of that isn't something you'd really want any through traffic using at all, and the route is so poorly signed I wouldn't trust traffic to be able to follow it anyway. DOH really just needs to take down the signage that remains.

Is this an Emergency WV 2 sign: https://goo.gl/maps/rADzRpYqdCoMk1xq5 ?

Yes.