Names vs. Numbers on highways

[dave19]

no, I do not.  Likely not Robert E. Lee, as WV was a union state - in fact, it specifically seceded from VA in 1862 so that it could join the union! 
[/quote]
Actually, there had been attempts long before the civil war to establish a new state in the area - Google "Vandalia Colony" or "Westsylvania" to learn of two efforts. The civil war gave them the opportunity to finally get it on June 20, 1863, facilitated by the "Restored Government of Virginia" made up of northwest Virginians recognized by Lincoln's government.

[hbelkins]

Byrd had no sons and a very contensious relationship with his daughters, only one of which (a Muslim convert) attended his funeral.  I'm no psychologist, but the source of this weird narcisism is probably in that fact somewhere.

Thought I read during the coverage of his death and funeral that he had a son who died in a car wreck, and the death of that son is what caused him to disassociate himself from racial prejudice and brought him to support the same Civil Rights Act which he had opposed.

[SP Cook]

News to me.  Without getting more political than this forum deserves, Byrd's views on civil rights never changed, IMHO.  The media wanted despiratly to come up with some "Damascus Road" story relative to him and his past, but it just was not there.

Anyway, again working from memory, things not named for RCB:

I-64, KY to Charleston - Cecil Underwood Expressway (Underwood was governor, 1956-60 and again 1996-2000, the state's youngest and oldest governor)
I-64, Beckley to Virginia - Hullett Smith Highway (Smith was governor, 1964-68)
I-68 - Vietnam Veterans Highway
I-70 - National Freeway
I-470 - USS West Virginia Highway (the USS WV was sunk at Pearl Harbor)
I-77, Ohio to Charleston - Korean Veterans Highway
I-77, Princeton to Virginia - Hugh Ike Schott Highway (Schott was a sometime politician and local media mogul)
I-79, Jennings Randolph Highway (Randolph was the other Senator, 1950-early 80s, and father of St. Louis Cardinals broadcaster Jay Randolph)

Corridor L - Mountaineer Expressway

[agentsteel53]

that is horrific that so many things were named after him.  how many things are named after Chuck Yeager, who has the following things going for him?

1) not a Klansman
2) not a politician
3) exceeded speed of sound in level flight before any other human
4) oh yeah not a Klansman OR a politician

I think the honor of Most Awesome West Virginian, After Whom We Name Everything and the Cross Streets, has been severely misapplied.

[kurumi]

Getting pulled over for speeding on the Chuck Yeager Highway would seem just so wrong.

[Brandon]

Getting pulled over for speeding on the Chuck Yeager Highway would seem just so wrong.

Wouldn't the minimum speed there have to be Mach 1.0?

[deathtopumpkins]

Nah... mach's not a usable measurement!

[TheStranger]

Nah... mach's not a usable measurement!

Wouldn't the route be more appropriately named the "Chuck Yeager Speedway"?

[SP Cook]

how many things are named after Chuck Yeager, who has the following things going for him?

Actually three, that I can think of.


- Charleston's airport, CRW
- the northern most bridge on the WV Turnpike
- the honors scholarship program at Marshall University (The Society of Yeager Scholars)

If you read Yeager's first autobiography, he seriously considered (he is a very conservative Republican) moving back to WV and running for Senate, but did not think he could win and thought that having not lived in the state since he was 17 would be used against him.