Corridor H

[Dirt Roads]

D, in WV, has failed totally, because no body lived in those places in the first place and there is no economic potential in that topography (other than oil and gas, which were going to be developed regardless of the roads situation).  Others, like B or D in Ohio, or G, or the parts of Q that are finished, and certainly L, have worked spectacularly. 

Disagree.  Folks in Ritchie County and Doddridge County have access to jobs in Parkersburg and Clarksburg.  It's only 40 minutes from Pennsboro to Clarksburg or 50 minutes from West Union to Parkersburg (for the non-locals, these overlap).  Even back in my day, I had a friend whose father was a professor at WVU and he was able to move back to Ritchie County and commute to work after I-79 was completed from Clarksburg.  On the flipside, I had another friend who lived in Bridgeport and worked in Pennsboro.

To your point, however, the economic development that was promised didn't materialize.  I think the relatively short distance between I-77 and I-79 on Corridor D has transferred the economics from "bringing prosperity to the county" to the opposite "bringing the county closer to prosperous jobs".  That is not a bad problem to have.

[hbelkins]

D, in WV, has failed totally, because no body lived in those places in the first place and there is no economic potential in that topography (other than oil and gas, which were going to be developed regardless of the roads situation).  Others, like B or D in Ohio, or G, or the parts of Q that are finished, and certainly L, have worked spectacularly. 

Disagree.  Folks in Ritchie County and Doddridge County have access to jobs in Parkersburg and Clarksburg.  It's only 40 minutes from Pennsboro to Clarksburg or 50 minutes from West Union to Parkersburg (for the non-locals, these overlap).  Even back in my day, I had a friend whose father was a professor at WVU and he was able to move back to Ritchie County and commute to work after I-79 was completed from Clarksburg.  On the flipside, I had another friend who lived in Bridgeport and worked in Pennsboro.

To your point, however, the economic development that was promised didn't materialize.  I think the relatively short distance between I-77 and I-79 on Corridor D has transferred the economics from "bringing prosperity to the county" to the opposite "bringing the county closer to prosperous jobs".  That is not a bad problem to have.

That's what road construction in rural areas in Kentucky will ideally do. It may not bring jobs to some of the rural counties, but will make it easier for residents of those rural counties to commute to jobs in larger places that are more easily accessible. And it might encourage people to move to those areas to escape high taxes in the bigger towns.

[SP Cook]

Ritchie County has 9500 people living there.  The other in-between county on D, Doddridge, has 8,400.  There is no shortage of good housing in either Clarksburg or Parkersburg.   Spending millions, and, BTW, finishing the road decades before vastly more important projects, (which is WV tradition, the state having built its interstates and corridors in roughly reverse order of importance) so a few hundred people can play weekend farmer is really a waste, when you contrast it is Corridors that have really worked, because they are built where there are people, and where there is topography that is there for development.

[AlexandriaVA]

A lot of money on the line for hypothetical payoffs...

[sbeaver44]

Took a trip out U.S. 48 from I-81 this weekend, and can share some observations:

4.  Along the Corridor H "gap" between Davis and Kerens, there are new, small blue Corridor H trailblazer signs next to or under the U.S. 48 shields.

Are these the same trailblazers on the Corridor H blue mile markers?  Or something different?  Any chance you have a picture?  Or am I going back to Davis soon haha.

This came up in another thread with hbelkins, but I'd love to see a unified sign across the ADHS corridors, I like hb's idea of the ARC logo.    While it wouldn't work for a system wide logo, I do love the WV shapes with the letter in them.

I'm going to drop a hot take – I PREFER the ADHS corridors to Interstate highways.   I find them much more interesting.

[cpzilliacus]

Took a trip out U.S. 48 from I-81 this weekend, and can share some observations:

4.  Along the Corridor H "gap" between Davis and Kerens, there are new, small blue Corridor H trailblazer signs next to or under the U.S. 48 shields.

Are these the same trailblazers on the Corridor H blue mile markers?  Or something different?  Any chance you have a picture?  Or am I going back to Davis soon haha.

This came up in another thread with hbelkins, but I'd love to see a unified sign across the ADHS corridors, I like hb's idea of the ARC logo.    While it wouldn't work for a system wide logo, I do love the WV shapes with the letter in them.

I'm going to drop a hot take – I PREFER the ADHS corridors to Interstate highways.   I find them much more interesting.

I was not able to get a good image of the Corridor H trailblazers this time out - in part because I was not anticipating them being there.

They have the blue H imposed on a white outline of West Virginia - the design as taken from the blue ADHS mileposts that West Virginia uses - but these are MUCH smaller than an ADHS milepost.

I have been on ADHS corridors in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky.  In general they are modern and well-designed roads, usually of an expressway or principal arterial highway design - some, like Corridor E, are all Interstate highway design.

[cpzilliacus]

A lot of money on the line for hypothetical payoffs...

Sounds like some rail transit projects that have cost billions and billions of dollars to built, and then more billions to keep them in a state of good repair.

[cpzilliacus]

Ritchie County has 9500 people living there.  The other in-between county on D, Doddridge, has 8,400.  There is no shortage of good housing in either Clarksburg or Parkersburg.   Spending millions, and, BTW, finishing the road decades before vastly more important projects, (which is WV tradition, the state having built its interstates and corridors in roughly reverse order of importance) so a few hundred people can play weekend farmer is really a waste, when you contrast it is Corridors that have really worked, because they are built where there are people, and where there is topography that is there for development.

I know the history of Corridors H and E reasonably well, and know enough to be dangerous about some of the others.

Regarding the purpose and need of the ADHS, consider the following:

1. The "D" stands for development.  I am O.K. with that.

2. A senior manager and career MDOT/SHA staff person (now retired from state service) said that from his point of view (keeping in mind that Maryland has only three counties in the ARC footprint - Garrett, Allegany (that's the correct spelling) and Washington), the main idea behind the ADHS was to induce traffic (this was a session at an annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board - a notorious anti-highway activist who was in the audience had a fit and looked like he was ready to have a stroke after hearing that). 

It appears to me that U.S. 19 (Corridor L) has induced traffic and economic activity.

As an aside about Corridor L, I have heard that the Summersville police engage in predatory speed limit enforcement, but I saw nothing happening when I was through there recently.  On the other hand, it appeared that the police from Oak Hill were engaged in revenue raising on their part of U.S. 19 near Beckley.  I have also seen local law enforcement doing revenue collection on Corridor D.

3.  Again in Maryland, ADHS was used to get I-68 (Corridor E) built, and provide a good road connection between the two westernmost of those counties and the rest of the state.  The old route - U.S. 40 - was in places a wretchedly bad and dangerous highway - I-68 was (and is) a big improvement and has reduced the isolation of Garrett and Allegany. Combined with I-79 and more recently WV-43/PA-43, it has also improved road access from the Pittsburgh area. 

4.  It is not just in West Virginia where the difficult parts are left for last.  On Corridor E, the most difficult parts in Maryland were Sideling Hill and the section between Cumberland and Flintstone.  They were the last parts to get built and opened to traffic.  In West Virginia, it seems that Corridor H between Parsons and Davis is going to be the most-challenging to design, engineer and build.  Is the other remaining West Virginia part, between Wardensville and the W.Va./Va. border as difficult?
I am not sure about the difficulty of building Corridor H in Virginia, since VDOT has done almost nothing about the 14 miles between the state line and I-81 near Strasburg.

5.  I agree with Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Baines Johnson about the need to make improvements in the Appalachian part of the United States - using federal dollars because of the multi-state nature of Appalachia and the problems there. If anything, that need is more-pressing now, given the long-term decline of coal mining and related jobs in many Appalachian counties.  Some of the ADHS corridors improve access to state and federal parks and recreation.  One other benefit that is IMO more important - they provide network redundancy in a part of the nation where there is not enough of it.  Corridor H, when completed, as well as Corridor E are good examples of this, as they provide east-west links across the mountains between the I-64 and I-70 corridors.

[SP Cook]

4.  It is not just in West Virginia where the difficult parts are left for last.

Yeah, I get that.  But West Virginia's history of building its Interstates and Corridors is not really a function of that.  It is really a function of basic incompetence. 

Essentially, WV had the following tasks to complete:
I-64 west of Charleston
I-64 east of Beckley
I-70/470 (the world's least necessary bypass)
I-77 north of Charleston
I-77 south of Charleston (also the central section of I-64) AKA WV Turnpike
I-79
I-81
Corridor D
Corridor E (I-68)
Corridor G
Corridor H
Corridor L
Corridor Q

Now after the most obvious ones which were done in correct order (77N, 64W, 81, 70) considering the populations at the time, the economic potential of the areas served, and  the traffic volumes then and projected, you really could not come up with a more illogical order to build these roads than what happened.  Relatively minor projects that served really small needs were finished two decades before roads of vastly greater importance and need.

This is really different from most any other state.  Look at old maps from the 60s and 70s for about anywhere and you see a logic progression of the most important to the least important.  Except in WV.

[Life in Paradise]

The older section of Corridor H only passes near two towns, Weston and Buckhannon. At Weston, the I-79 exit is a couple of miles out of downtown, but plenty of businesses have sprung up near the exit (there are at least three hotels, a Walmart, a strip mall, a Sheetz and at least one other convenience store, which I think is a BFS, and there are various fast-food places near the interchange and along the route into downtown. There's been some growth near the corridor at Buckhannon (a Walmart and some outlying stores, a newer Sheetz, a couple of hotels, a Dollar Tree, and a Lowe's) as the four-lane passes very near the downtown area. The corridor really doesn't come that close to Elkins, and all of the major development is on the south side of town.

Beyond that, along the newer sections, the route really doesn't pass near any towns to provide them a boost. There's been some growth at the exit at Moorefield (a Sheetz, a McDonald's, and a few other places) but the road won't really come all that close to Parsons or Wardensville. Thomas and Davis seem to be propped up by ski areas and Blackwater Falls visitors, so it's doubtful those two small towns will get a boom.

Along Corridor L, it's fairly built up between Beckley and Fayetteville, but Summersville is the only other place along the route that has significant commerce, and a lot of that is probably tourism-based as well.

Corridor D is desolate (although there's been a few surprising businesses pop up at the Harrisville/Ellenboro exit) and Corridor Q serves two towns (Princeton and Bluefield) that were already well-established.

Wouldn't surprise me that the southside development around Elkins occurred around the time that they improved US 33 east of Elkins as part of the initial Corridor H work and then a group around Petersburg and Seneca Rocks fought that route so now it kind of goes out of the way to get to its destination. (I hate what could be considered wasted money) Elkins will still benefit since it is a ski/adventure location, but you will see less development through the Petersburg and Canaan Valley WV 28 corridor due to its route near Parsons and Davis.

[cpzilliacus]

This is really different from most any other state.  Look at old maps from the 60s and 70s for about anywhere and you see a logic progression of the most important to the least important.  Except in WV.

My own state of Maryland did some of the Interstates "out of order," especially I-95.

The last parts of I-95 to be built were the "between the Beltways" segment between I-495 and I-695 and then the section through Baltimore City (including the complex and expensive Fort McHenry Tunnel and its approaches).   

Some persons might argue that the Baltimore-Washington Parkway and the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel Thruway (I-895 now) provided a high-speed route before I-95 was completed, and they would be correct.  But nearly all of that is four lane divided, the federal part prohibits truck traffic, and most of it was not built to Interstate standards.

And what some might argue is the most-important part of I-95, between the D.C./Maryland boundary and I-95 will never be built.

To the north, it took many more decades for I-95 to be completed between Philadelphia and New York City.  Yes, the NIMBYs in New Jersey helped to kill the Somerset Freeway, but some scorn must be kept for Pennsylvania being allowed to build the Delaware Expressway (I-95) without any connection to the East-West Mainline of the Pennsylvania Turnpike (I-276) and without any connection to the Schuylkill Expressway (I-76).  Those interchanges on I-95 were probably difficult, but it seems that the PennDOT and PTC traditions are to avoid constructing difficult interchanges when they can get away with it.

[cpzilliacus]

Wouldn't surprise me that the southside development around Elkins occurred around the time that they improved US 33 east of Elkins as part of the initial Corridor H work and then a group around Petersburg and Seneca Rocks fought that route so now it kind of goes out of the way to get to its destination. (I hate what could be considered wasted money) Elkins will still benefit since it is a ski/adventure location, but you will see less development through the Petersburg and Canaan Valley WV 28 corridor due to its route near Parsons and Davis.

That would be what some folks call the "racetrack" part of U.S. 33 east of Elkins, and yes, it does not serve much purpose as an isolated expressway-type of road.

Original maps planning maps for Corridor H had it roughly following U.S. 33 east from Elkins all the way to I-81 at Harrisonburg, Virginia.

Not sure why people at Petersburg and Seneca Rocks were so opposed to Corridor H going that way. There was plenty of NIMBY opposition to the revised Corridor H route (including a head of the EPA Region III office who was fired by President Clinton at the request of the late Senator Robert C. Byrd in part for anti-Corridor H activities - and a group that called itself Corridor H Alternatives) along its revised route past Parsons, Davis, Bismarck, Moorfield, Baker, Wardensville, Lebanon Church (Va.) and to I-81 near Strasburg (Va.).

[AlexandriaVA]

the long-term decline of coal mining and related jobs in many Appalachian counties

Which leads Virginia taxpayers (e.g. myself) as to why should VDOT spend a lot of money to turn its portion US-48 into an expressway for the benefit of the WV tourism industry, when there's countless projects in the NOVA/Richmond/Newport News corridor that would have much more bang for the buck.

This was the exact purpose behind SmartScale, by the way.

And to be even more blunt about it, it wasn't western and SW Virginia that put the current governor into office, nor the current makeup of the General Assembly.

[cpzilliacus]

the long-term decline of coal mining and related jobs in many Appalachian counties

Which leads Virginia taxpayers (e.g. myself) as to why should VDOT spend a lot of money to turn its portion US-48 into an expressway for the benefit of the WV tourism industry, when there's countless projects in the NOVA/Richmond/Newport News corridor that would have much more bang for the buck.

This was the exact purpose behind SmartScale, by the way.

And to be even more blunt about it, it wasn't western and SW Virginia that put the current governor into office, nor the current makeup of the General Assembly.

1. Ever heard of the Inland Port in Front Royal?  Corridor H brings truck traffic from I-79 and I-64 (west of I-79) significantly closer to Front Royal.  Increased use of this facility means less truck traffic on many roads of the Commonwealth of Virginia that lead to and from Hampton Roads.

2. Your reasoning sounds a lot like that exhibited by some elected officials in Montgomery County, Maryland regarding improvements to crossings of the Potomac River.  As regards Virginia taxpayers, most of the cost of ADHS corridors is funded by federal, not state dollars.

[SP Cook]

Corridor H Alternatives.  IMHO, this crew was 99% out-of-region BANANA extremists, not NIMBY locals.  I never have never met anyone from actually in the Corridor H service region who opposes the construction.

Virginia.  Once all of Corridor H is finished in WV, which is currently projected to be 2034, I think Virginia will come around.  I can read red and blue maps as good as anybody and get the current political situation in Virginia, but we are talking about less than 12 miles of road, from which the ARC special $$ are available.  Same comment goes for Corridor Q. 

And, Tip O'Neil said "in politics, a week is a long time."   So if we take WV up on its word of completion in 2034, or 13 years from now, then 13 years ago was 2008.  If you had talked about a blood red West Virginia and a Virginia where 10% of the land mass was so deep blue that it could disregard the rest of the state in 2008, people would have said you were crazy. 

[cpzilliacus]

Corridor H Alternatives.  IMHO, this crew was 99% out-of-region BANANA extremists, not NIMBY locals.  I never have never met anyone from actually in the Corridor H service region who opposes the construction.

Oh, I agree with that.  The "Build Corridor H" sign is still up on the fence of the paving company in the tiny community of Moore on U.S. 219 south of Parsons and north of the new Corridor H bridge. 

At least some of the members of Corridor H Alternatives lived in places like Jefferson County (West Virginia) and Fairfax County, Virginia.  Not exactly close to Corridor H.  And there were anti-highway nutjobs in Maryland who made claims that there was some sort of a conspiracy between MDOT and WVDOT to get MD-200 built in Maryland and Corridor H built in West Virginia and Virginia.  Not all crazy conspiracy theories come from conservatives.

Virginia.  Once all of Corridor H is finished in WV, which is currently projected to be 2034, I think Virginia will come around.  I can read red and blue maps as good as anybody and get the current political situation in Virginia, but we are talking about less than 12 miles of road, from which the ARC special $$ are available.  Same comment goes for Corridor Q.

Given the impact on the Inland Port (and getting more truck traffic routed there), it is in the interest of Virginia to get their part of Corridor H done.  I do not think there are nearly as many engineering challenges on the Virginia side of the route as there were and will be in West Virginia. 

And, Tip O'Neil said "in politics, a week is a long time."   So if we take WV up on its word of completion in 2034, or 13 years from now, then 13 years ago was 2008.  If you had talked about a blood red West Virginia and a Virginia where 10% of the land mass was so deep blue that it could disregard the rest of the state in 2008, people would have said you were crazy.

I saw someplace that the Biden Administration would like to get the entire ADHS on its way to completion well before 2034. 

As for Virginia being blue, yes it is and yes it likely will be. The only way the Republican Party gets a governor elected in the years to come is if they find a candidate like the one that put a dagger in the heart of the [Sen. Harry Flood Byrd Sr.] Byrd Machine, A. Linwood Holton, Jr. of Big Stone Gap, Va. who was elected in 1969 and served 1970 to 1974.  On the other hand, West Virginia was once reliably blue, and is no longer - in part because of mindless attacks on the coal industry by politicians like Hillary Clinton and groups that claim loyalty to Democrats like the Sierra Club.  I am not fond of the coal industry for an assortment of reasons but making comments to the news media about coal did nothing to hinder or to speed-up the decline of coal - fracked gas (and maybe oil too) did a good job of that. 

[hbelkins]

Kentucky is leaving its most difficult and environmentally sensitive portion of its ADHS system -- the US 119 crossing of (or tunneling under) Pine Mountain until last. It's really the last unplanned portion in the state, what with the final segment of US 460 currently under construction. It would be heresy for Kentucky to call its portion of the system "done" by including the improvements made to existing US 119 nearly 20 years ago as the final alignment.

The solution to finishing the ADHS system, and making improvements to the interstate system (such as the parallel I-75 bridge over the Ohio River and fixing Breezewood), is to federalize those projects. The federal government gives the money to those states and tells them to do the work. It would be hard for Virginia to refuse to finish Corridor H if the federal government was footing 100 percent of the bill.

[cpzilliacus]

Kentucky is leaving its most difficult and environmentally sensitive portion of its ADHS system -- the US 119 crossing of (or tunneling under) Pine Mountain until last. It's really the last unplanned portion in the state, what with the final segment of US 460 currently under construction. It would be heresy for Kentucky to call its portion of the system "done" by including the improvements made to existing US 119 nearly 20 years ago as the final alignment.

I was not aware that the uncompleted part of ADHS on U.S. 119 went one miliemeter south of Pikeville.  Thanks for sharing that.

Maryland considered a tunnel for Corridor E at Sideling Hill but opened for the massive cut that's there today in part because of the higher operational costs of a tunnel.

The solution to finishing the ADHS system, and making improvements to the interstate system (such as the parallel I-75 bridge over the Ohio River and fixing Breezewood), is to federalize those projects. The federal government gives the money to those states and tells them to do the work. It would be hard for Virginia to refuse to finish Corridor H if the federal government was footing 100 percent of the bill.

I agree with making what is left of ADHS 100% federal to get it completed and as you know would love to see Breezewood and the rest of its evil family bypassed.  I think that making it 100% federal would certainly motivate VDOT to get going at least on preliminary engineering for its part of Corridor H.

Unfortunately, I think Breezewood will still be there in its current form after the entire ADHS network is completed.

The U.S. Congress could put an end to Breezewood and the rest of them by making the federal tax code and its continued tax-favored treatment of bonds issued by agencies like the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission contingent on a binding plan to bypass all of its breezewoods (outside Pennsylvania most of them have been bypassed - there's one in Florida at Fort Pierce where Florida's Turnpike turns northwest toward Orlando while I-95 continues straight north in the direction of Daytona Beach and Jacksonville - the two roads are connected by a breezewood-like section of FL-70 (turnpike exit 152).  There is one where I-475 crosses the Ohio Turnpike in Maumee southwest of Toledo, but there are nearby alternate routes using turnpike exit 64 to and from I-75 that really make an interchange at I-475 less-critical than it would be.

[hbelkins]

Kentucky is leaving its most difficult and environmentally sensitive portion of its ADHS system -- the US 119 crossing of (or tunneling under) Pine Mountain until last. It's really the last unplanned portion in the state, what with the final segment of US 460 currently under construction. It would be heresy for Kentucky to call its portion of the system "done" by including the improvements made to existing US 119 nearly 20 years ago as the final alignment.

I was not aware that the uncompleted part of ADHS on U.S. 119 went one miliemeter south of Pikeville.  Thanks for sharing that.

I always have to look up most of the corridor letter designations, but the corridor southwest of Pikeville runs along US 119 to Pineville, then US 25E south through the Cumberland Gap Tunnel into Tennessee, then TN 62 southwest to I-75.

[Bitmapped]

The older section of Corridor H only passes near two towns, Weston and Buckhannon. At Weston, the I-79 exit is a couple of miles out of downtown, but plenty of businesses have sprung up near the exit (there are at least three hotels, a Walmart, a strip mall, a Sheetz and at least one other convenience store, which I think is a BFS, and there are various fast-food places near the interchange and along the route into downtown. There's been some growth near the corridor at Buckhannon (a Walmart and some outlying stores, a newer Sheetz, a couple of hotels, a Dollar Tree, and a Lowe's) as the four-lane passes very near the downtown area. The corridor really doesn't come that close to Elkins, and all of the major development is on the south side of town.

Beyond that, along the newer sections, the route really doesn't pass near any towns to provide them a boost. There's been some growth at the exit at Moorefield (a Sheetz, a McDonald's, and a few other places) but the road won't really come all that close to Parsons or Wardensville. Thomas and Davis seem to be propped up by ski areas and Blackwater Falls visitors, so it's doubtful those two small towns will get a boom.

Along Corridor L, it's fairly built up between Beckley and Fayetteville, but Summersville is the only other place along the route that has significant commerce, and a lot of that is probably tourism-based as well.

Corridor D is desolate (although there's been a few surprising businesses pop up at the Harrisville/Ellenboro exit) and Corridor Q serves two towns (Princeton and Bluefield) that were already well-established.

Wouldn't surprise me that the southside development around Elkins occurred around the time that they improved US 33 east of Elkins as part of the initial Corridor H work and then a group around Petersburg and Seneca Rocks fought that route so now it kind of goes out of the way to get to its destination. (I hate what could be considered wasted money) Elkins will still benefit since it is a ski/adventure location, but you will see less development through the Petersburg and Canaan Valley WV 28 corridor due to its route near Parsons and Davis.

Elkins was and is the primary town in the Potomac Highlands area. The development along US 219/US 250 has nothing to do with Corridor H.

[Mapmikey]

Improvements to VA 55 west of I-81 have never been on any VDOT document I can find, long-term or short.  Not sure when the VTrans2040 document is supposed to be out.

IMO, the Inland Port traffic would be an induced demand after the road is completed in at least West Virginia (as getting anywhere past Davis involves some mountainous driving somewhere).  If truck traffic were already using VA 55 to get over there then I believe VDOT might be more likely to get going on this.

Traffic count on VA 55 at the state line in 2001 was 1800 (9% trucks of any kind)
In 2019 it was 2900 with 6% trucks of any kind, so the overall number of trucks using VA 55 has not changed any in 20 years.

[cpzilliacus]

Improvements to VA 55 west of I-81 have never been on any VDOT document I can find, long-term or short.  Not sure when the VTrans2040 document is supposed to be out.

I have not looked beyond the VDOT Six Year Plan site, which is a good source for such things - and you are correct.  I did see a mention of some interchange improvements at I-81 Exit 296 in Shenandoah County but I think that was mostly about lengthening the deceleration and acceleration lanes there.

IMO, the Inland Port traffic would be an induced demand after the road is completed in at least West Virginia (as getting anywhere past Davis involves some mountainous driving somewhere).  If truck traffic were already using VA 55 to get over there then I believe VDOT might be more likely to get going on this.

I must express strong disagreement regarding the phrase "induced demand."  While there have been instances of "induced demand' with new and untolled freeways and other roads for automobile traffic, I do not think it can be applied to freight moves.  But having said that, I do think a completed Corridor H would attract at least some truck traffic (especially carrying containerized freight for shipment into or out of one of the ocean ports in Hampton Roads) from the I-79 and the I-64 corridors (I mean I-64 west of Charleston).  As an example, consider that a truck trip from Huntington, W.Va. to Front Royal (via Corridor H) is about 325 miles (about 525 km).  The trip between Huntington and the port on Terminal Boulevard in Norfolk is a lot more miles at about 455 miles (or 730 km).  Given that the container is a lot cheaper on a train than it is behind a truck tractor, that may attract some freight moves into Front Royal, and I think it will.

Traffic count on VA 55 at the state line in 2001 was 1800 (9% trucks of any kind)
In 2019 it was 2900 with 6% trucks of any kind, so the overall number of trucks using VA 55 has not changed any in 20 years.

Until all of Corridor H is complete (including the Virginia portion), I doubt there will be much increase or decrease in terms of truck traffic.  U.S. 48/WV-55/VA-55 is not a very truck-friendly route between Wardensville and I-81 at Strasburg.   The same can be said about U.S. 219 between Kerens and Davis. 

[sparker]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^
It seems unlikely that Corridor H, once fully completed to expressway standards between I-81 and I-79, would draw much traffic away from I-64 (too far north) unless a problem occurred on that highway.  It seems better suited as a relief route for I-68 to the north for traffic from the Baltimore/Washington area, particularly the ports there.  Of course that's providing that the portion of I-79 to be used is south of the Clarksburg area, otherwise there would be excess "backtracking" involved that would reduce the utility of Corridor H/US 48.  But since it doesn't seem that VA is any hurry to develop their portion, it'll be a while before the corridor's full commercial value can be determined. 

[Mapmikey]

My overall point was that VDOT is in no rush because even with WV's portion 3/4 finished, there is no current problem to address with increased trucks on current VA 55.

Incidentally, it is already 30 miles shorter and only 4 minutes slower (per the Goog) to use US 48/I-79 from Front Royal to Charleston WV as compared to I-81 and I-64.  Corridor H's completion in West Virginia to at least Wardensville will make it a usable route for any kind of traffic to avoid a lot of miserable I-81 and the expense of the WV Turnpike.  While US 48 from I-81 to Wardensville isn't terrific for trucks, there are no switchbacks.

[SP Cook]

Elkins was and is the primary town in the Potomac Highlands area. The development along US 219/US 250 has nothing to do with Corridor H.

Elkins is west of the Eastern Continental Divide.  It is not in the Potomac drainage.