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Old routings of US highways in Mercer County, WV

Started by hbelkins, July 10, 2016, 03:07:48 PM

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hbelkins

Construction of Corridor Q (US 460) in Mercer County, WV (Bluefield and Princeton) has caused some reroutings of the US routes. I'm trying to run down the old alignments of them.

Going out of Bluefield, it's pretty obvious that  US 19 followed what is now WV 112 and then CR 19/33 (Country Girl Road, also labeled Old US 19 on Google Maps) and then WV 20 (also labeled Old US 19) into downtown Princeton. It should be noted that the right turn to stay on WV 112 is not signed, if you go straight at the intersection you transition onto CR 19/33.

What I'm more uncertain about is the routing of US 460. I do know that before US 460 was extended into West Virginia and Kentucky, what is now WV 112 was signed as WV 12 (with an obvious overlap along what is now US 219 from Rich Creek, Va. back into West Virginia). And I do know that for years, US 219 and US 460 were co-signed from Rich Creek west to Princeton so 219 could meet its parent.

Logic tells me that US 460 followed what is now WV 112 (Ingleside Road) to Oakvale, and then Kellysville Road/Goodwins Chapel Road to where it intersects current US 460 just west of the state line. There's a 219-numerator fractional route (Hales Gap) that spurs off of the old road, so it would appear that the old route carried US 219 at one point. It's also possible that CR 38/5 (Blake Road) may have been a US 460 alignment, since it ties into WV 112 at both ends and follows the East River.

But what about US 219? The configuration of the intersection at Oakvale (a Y, or wye if you prefer) indicates that it was the junction of two major routes. It would make sense that if you were traveling west, US 460 would split to the left to Bluefield and US 219 would split right to Princeton. But I can't figure out what route the road on the right would have followed to Princeton.

Anyone have any ideas? Did US 219 and US 460 split at Oakvale, or did both US routes always continue to Princeton, and the old WV 12 go directly from Oakvale to Bluefield?


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.


Mapmikey

US 219-460 also used Ball Ave across the Virginia State line, which no longer connects back to the highway within West Virginia about 1/4 mile from the state line.

The last routing  before Corridor Q was built: Heading towards Princeton from Oakvale, US 219 used CR 35 Goodwins Chapel Rd (passes under the US 460 bridge over Five Mile Creek; CR 460-5 which is the frontage road alongside 460 EB; CR 460-1 Hilltop Dr which now dead ends just short of the I-77 interchange; the short Homestead Dr (opposite of CR 219-2 Greasy Ridge Rd) which is interrupted by I-77; Oakvale Rd which turns into WV 104.  I have seen no evidence that US 460 went directly to Bluefield.

Mapmikey


froggie

It's worth noting that historicaerials.com has early 1960s imagery of the area...generally 1963 from Oakville east into Virginia, and 1960/1961 west of Oakville.  There's also a little bit of 1967 imagery near I-77.

While 460's routing near today's I-77 was in the general vicinity of Homestead Dr as Mike mentioned, an analysis of the imagery notes that today's Homestead Dr is not the actual old alignment...the current street was shifted slightly east when I-77 was built.  On the west side of I-77, the old alignment of Oakvale Rd went through the middle of today's Lowe's parking lot.

hbelkins

Also in this area, I have often wondered why the WV 112 and CR 27 interchanges are configured the way they are. Usually, when you have back-to-back partial interchanges, they're configured with the ramps to the "outside," so to speak, of the intersecting routes, not the "inside," as they are in this case.

What appears to have happened is that I-77 ate CR 27, and the exits for WV 112 and CR 27 were intended to allow for an effective continuation of CR 27 using the interstate. I'm presuming that CR 27's terminus, prior to the construction of the interstate, was somewhere near the WV 112 interchange.


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

Mapmikey

I-77 was built directly on top of CR 27 for the first 0.44 mile south of the CR 27 interchange.  CR 27 also used the frontage road piece that CR 3-5 uses.  Two other segments of CR 27 are not under I-77 but were physically removed.  Then CR 12-5 is the ending of CR 27 at WV 112.

jbnati27

According to my 1947 Texaco / Rand McNally map (unfortunately it's not very granular), it looks like both US-219 and US-460 continued up to Princeton. It definitely shows WV-12 flying solo and going straight from Oakvale to Bluefield.

Mapmikey

Quote from: jbnati27 on July 12, 2016, 12:14:21 PM
According to my 1947 Texaco / Rand McNally map (unfortunately it's not very granular), it looks like both US-219 and US-460 continued up to Princeton. It definitely shows WV-12 flying solo and going straight from Oakvale to Bluefield.

Virginia State Officials also only show US 219-460 together to Princeton throughout.  In fact they didn't even bother showing WV 12 (or any road) over to Bluefield until 1961...

jbnati27

For what it's worth, here's a photo focused in on the area on my 1947 map:


VTGoose

Quote from: hbelkins on July 10, 2016, 03:07:48 PM
Construction of Corridor Q (US 460) in Mercer County, WV (Bluefield and Princeton) has caused some reroutings of the US routes. I'm trying to run down the old alignments of them.

Logic tells me that US 460 followed what is now WV 112 (Ingleside Road) to Oakvale, and then Kellysville Road/Goodwins Chapel Road to where it intersects current US 460 just west of the state line. There's a 219-numerator fractional route (Hales Gap) that spurs off of the old road, so it would appear that the old route carried US 219 at one point. It's also possible that CR 38/5 (Blake Road) may have been a US 460 alignment, since it ties into WV 112 at both ends and follows the East River.

But what about US 219? The configuration of the intersection at Oakvale (a Y, or wye if you prefer) indicates that it was the junction of two major routes. It would make sense that if you were traveling west, US 460 would split to the left to Bluefield and US 219 would split right to Princeton. But I can't figure out what route the road on the right would have followed to Princeton.

Anyone have any ideas? Did US 219 and US 460 split at Oakvale, or did both US routes always continue to Princeton, and the old WV 12 go directly from Oakvale to Bluefield?

The roads took a couple of different routes over time. Since this is in my backyard and I had some time to kill, I dug into old topo maps and put the info on a web page (easier to display the images). See http://www.brucebharper.info/varoads/US219/US219-460.html for all the details.


See http://www.brucebharper.info/varoads/US219/WV_Bluefield_1926&44.jpg for a larger image.

Basically US 219 and later US 460 both went to Princeton, using two different routes out of Oakvale. US 460/US 19 also used different routings between Princeton and Bluefield. As to the road through and beyond Blake, it may have connected at one time, but now it shown on the WVDOT Mercer County map as a "primitive road." Last time I was up to Blake, the road ended at a gate; this may be a maintainer's road for Norfolk Southern from there to the other end at Jug Neck Rd.

Bruce in Blacksburg
"Get in the fast lane, grandma!  The bingo game is ready to roll!"

froggie

In light of what Bruce posted, I dug back through my old WV highway maps to look at the area.  I have copies of the following relevant versions:  '34, June '38, July '41, '49, '57, '61, '63, '65, '66-67, '67-68, '68-69, '70, '72, and '73.  While these generally won't give a street-specific routing, we can still glean more general route information for the Bluefield/Princeton area from them.  I'll do so below in chronological order:

- In 1934, US 219 did not exist in WV, nor did US 460.  This jives with what we have on VHP, where US 219 did not appear until 1937, and US 460 was not extended west of Roanoke until ca. 1946.  Instead, what we had was US 19/US 21, concurrent from Bluefield to Princeton and beyond.  WV 24 ran east of Princeton to Glen Lyn, then continued out of Peterstown along today's US 219 corridor.  WV 44 ran northeast of Princeton (today's WV 20 corridor).

WV 38 existed, but not near Oakvale.  Instead, WV 38 followed today's US 522 corridor south of WV 9/Berkeley Springs.

From Matoaka, it is unclear whether WV 10 continued to US 19 near Kegley or followed today's WV 71 south to Rock, then skirted southeast and east to Glenwood (likely via Sandlick Rd).  Both routes are shown as primary routes but neither is labeled.  If the 1926/1944 topo Bruce posted is to be believed, then WV 10 went to Kegley and WV 71 went to Glenwood.  Also, it's pretty clear that US 19/21 utilized today's CR 19/33 from Glenwood south and west.

US 52 comes into Bluefield from the northwest.  US 21 exits Bluefield to the east (via today's WV/VA 598), but it is unclear if US 52 was concurrent with US 21 into Virginia at the time or not.  This happened in 1934 but it may have happened after map press time.  Lastly, what is now WV 102 was labeled WV 82.

- By 1938, US 219 was extended to US 19/21 Princeton, replacing WV 24.  The map clearly shows WV 10 to Kegley and WV 71 to Glenwood, but by this time US 19/21 was rerouted to bypass Glenwood, leaving behind primary routes both to the south along CR 19/33 and to the east along CR 19/29.  Though the 1926/1944 topo shows CR 19/29 as part of WV 71, the 1938 map doesn't delineate any route numbers along either leg between Glenwood and US 19/21.

The 1938 map also shows an inset of Bluefield.  US 19 ran as it does today along Bluefield Ave and Princeton Ave.  US 52 to the north also runs much as it does today, except that it used Pine St instead of Spruce St from US 19, and the bridge over US 19 and the railroad was located at Poplar St.  South of US 19, US 52 ran along a 2-way Federal St to Bland St to Bland Rd (then called Memorial Ave) to Cumberland Rd (then called Cumberland Gap Rd).  From Cumberland Gap Rd, US 52 used Washington St and Cherry Dr to a more direct access point to today's WV 598.  US 21, meanwhile, uses what the map labels a "Bluefield Bypass", following Grassy Branch Rd to Cumberland Rd to US 52.

- By 1941, WV 44 had been renumbered to WV 20.

- By 1949, US 460 appeared (as noted above), with US 219 concurrent to Princeton.  WV 12 appeared between Oakvale and Bluefield (along today's WV 112).  WV 20 was extended southwest of Princeton along its current general corridor to US 52.  Roads in/around Glenwood still shown as primary routes.  WV 82 was renumbered WV 85.

- By 1957, the WV Turnpike was built north of US 219/460.  The "Bluefield Bypass" is no longer shown as a US route, suggesting US 21 was rerouted back through Bluefield.

- By 1961, the "Bluefield Bypass" is no longer shown as a primary route, but the above-mentioned routes in and out of Glenwood still are.

- The 1963 map shows city insets for the first time since 1941.  The Bland St/Federal St one-way pair in Bluefield is shown.  What had been US 21 on the Bluefield Bypass" (today's Grassy Branch Rd and Cumberland Rd) is now labeled CR 25.

- The 1967/68 map is the first to no longer show US 219 and US 460 as concurrent into Princeton.  This is the same year that VDOT maps stopped showing the concurrency, so it's possible the US 219 truncation to Rich Creek happened that year.

- By 1968, I-77 is shown as completed/open south to Exit 5 (then-WV 12)

- The 1972 map shows US 460 as "under construction" east of I-77.

- The 1973 map shows the US 460 four-lane as completed/open east of I-77.  WV 12 still exists.

hbelkins

"Cumberland Gap Road."

Wonder how one got from Bluefield to Cumberland Gap? Or was that just a name and not intended to be descriptive of anything?


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

froggie

As best as I can tell, that was just a streetname.

I should also note that NOWHERE on the WV official maps did I find the existence of either a WV 38 or a WV 27 in the Bluefield/Princeton area.  I'm thinking these were county route designations on the topographic maps that Bruce referenced.

NE2

Cumberland Gap Road was one of the main roads to Cumberland Gap in colonial days.
pre-1945 Florida route log

I accept and respect your identity as long as it's not dumb shit like "identifying as a vaccinated attack helicopter".

hbelkins

Quote from: NE2 on July 15, 2016, 11:29:40 AM
Cumberland Gap Road was one of the main roads to Cumberland Gap in colonial days.

Well, being from Kentucky, I know that  :bigass: but I wonder what route/trail they would have taken?

I know how I would get from Bluefield to Cumberland Gap -- US 19 to Alt. US 58 to US 58 -- but I wonder if those modern routes are anywhere close to the old pioneer routes? IIRC the Daniel Boone Heritage Trail, which traces much of the original Wilderness Road, runs from North Carolina into Tennessee, then along US 58 in southwestern Virginia.


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

seicer


Bitmapped

I looked at 1933 and 1946 WVDOH Mercer County maps. Neither show US 19/US 21 using any part of WV 20's alignment between Princeton and Bluefield. They used WV 112 and then CR 19/33 up to Green Valley. Corridor Q was built on top of the old alignment between Green Valley (CR 34 vicinity) and where US 19 splits for Princeton now.

CR 19/33 between WV 20 and US 19 used to be a branch of WV 71. The maps show two distinct branches of WV 71 and US 19 - one following what is now CR 19/33 and the other following CR 19/29. Neither is shown on the maps with any banners (Alternate, Spur, etc.).

hbelkins



Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.



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