Greetings!
I have completed enough of this project to introduce it...
The West Virginia Highways Annex Page (http://www.vahighways.com/wvannex/route-log/index.htm) is now available.
Currently I have documented all the state routes I am aware of. US routes and Interstates will be coming over the next several weeks.
Did you know that some numbers have been used 4 times in West Virginia for state routes? (44, 55, 68, 94)
Which number under 100 has never been used?
Given the limited on-line resources available and the fact I have never lived there, I judge this site to do a passable job at outlining the history of West Virginia's highways...
Please enjoy...
Congrats on another annexation, I'm sure this will be a valuable resource, and I'm looking forward to reading what you uncover about the history of US routes in WV.
I haven't perused the site yet, but this probably means I can go ahead and take my West Virginia pages down, as I've been wanting to do for awhile because they are outdated and I have neither the time nor the inclination to do a massive update.
1926 official: http://westvirginiaarchiveshistory.zenfolio.com/p974981478/h8643075d#h8643075d
WV 1:
I'm not sure that Nutter Fort to Pike was deleted in the 1920s or that WV 31 became US 50. The 1926 official shows the former as an unimproved state route, with WV 31 still labeled on the southern route. 1928 and 1931 lack any shields on either but still show both as state highways. I would guess that US 50 was temporarily signed on WV 31, with the northern route always officially US 50, to be signed once improved.
Did WV 1/US 50 originally go through Grafton on Main Street? Early maps appear to show only one route between Grafton and Blueville.
WV 2:
Any idea when WV 2/US 119 was moved from its original route along the south shore in Charleston and the Patrick Street Bridge to the 35th Street Bridge?
Quote from: NE2 on June 13, 2018, 12:46:14 PM
1926 official: http://westvirginiaarchiveshistory.zenfolio.com/p974981478/h8643075d#h8643075d
WV 1:
I'm not sure that Nutter Fort to Pike was deleted in the 1920s or that WV 31 became US 50. The 1926 official shows the former as an unimproved state route, with WV 31 still labeled on the southern route. 1928 and 1931 lack any shields on either but still show both as state highways. I would guess that US 50 was temporarily signed on WV 31, with the northern route always officially US 50, to be signed once improved.
Did WV 1/US 50 originally go through Grafton on Main Street? Early maps appear to show only one route between Grafton and Blueville.
WV 2:
Any idea when WV 2/US 119 was moved from its original route along the south shore in Charleston and the Patrick Street Bridge to the 35th Street Bridge?
WVDOT Annual Reports confirm your WV 31 analysis including the TEMP US 50 routing. They also explicitly called WV 14 as TEMP US 21 in the early years. WV 1 is still at least referenced in the WVDOT reports through at least 1929.
Grafton's bypass was put into the state route system it appears in 1930. The July 1931 route log suggests US 50 still went through Grafton while "Alternate Rt" used the new bypass. This is shown on all the route logs into 1935. At that point, US 119 and US 250 was routed on Main St from opposite directions and likely replaced US 50 through Grafton then. The 1938 Official explicitly shows that dynamic in the Grafton inset.
I haven't found evidence that WV 2 actually ran on the South Shore. US 60 did for a brief period. The 1928-32 Official Maps imply WV 2 had to run that way, but the odd thing is that Gen Drafting did those maps (would've been nice if the insets on the reverse were available) but on the 1931 and 1932 Gen Draft Esso Commercial maps, neither Charleston inset (nor any other throughout the 1930s) showed WV 2 on the South shore. I will continue to be on the lookout for a solution to this.
The WVDOT Annual reports have some deep detail about routing segments that could provide additional information on the early routes...
The West Virginia Hwys Annex has been updated to include all US routes and Interstates. The AASHO database has been combed through for as much information as I could obtain.
Some surprises in here but not as many as there were for Virginia.
How many routes was West Virginia trying to add as US routes in the late 1930s? Did you guess seemingly nearly all of them?
How many US 21 ALTs were there? Did you guess there were as many as there were potential connection points for I-64 at I-77 Beckley?
http://www.vahighways.com/wvannex/route-log/index.htm
(https://c.tenor.com/mFK6vHrSs4gAAAAM/the-simpsons-excellent.gif)
You added a lot!