West Virginia

[The_Ginger]

I can't confirm this for myself, but I've been told that the high-mast lighting at the I-77 Fairplain exit has been raised up and installed. I'm not sure when it will be lit; when the posts were on the ground the bulbs weren't installed while the assembly was.

[The_Ginger]

An update on the high-mast lighting along I-77: The poles have been raised and bolted at Ravenswood, Ripley, and Fairplain, but the bulbs haven't been installed. The Mineral Wells exit poles haven't been raised.

[The_Ginger]

I regret to inform AARoads that this button copy sign in Parkersburg

also shown here, has been removed as part of a bridge replacement project on these WV 68 bridges.

This was the only photo I ever took of the sign.

Dating back to the mid 1970s, with the demountable copy replaced in the 1980s, this was one of the only remaining button copy signs left in the state. It is truly a shame to see it go.

There is another survivor on the opposite side of the bridge, and it is small enough to be preserved somewhere, like in a WVDOT waiting room or somewhere similar.

[seicer]

Bluefield Safe Streets And Roads For All

"The City of Bluefield, WV, in partnership with Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and West Virginia Department of Transportation, Division of Highways (WVDOH) is seeking input on their project converting four (4) key intersections into roundabouts and safety improvements to three (3) corridors in Bluefield, West Virginia."

This includes reconstructing Cherry Street through the gap with two 11' lanes and a 10' shared path, Stadium Drive from Cherry Street west to the state line with two 10' lanes and a 10' paved bike lane westbound-only (why not a shared path instead of a sidewalk and bike lane?), and College Avenue with two 10' lanes and two 5' bike lanes. It also includes four roundabouts.

Bluefield is historically a hard-to-walk (and bike) city. There are a lot of missing sidewalk connections, and Cherry Street has little to no pedestrian infrastructure.

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WVDOH awards first contract for Corridor H, Wardensville to the Virginia state line

Today, Tuesday, July 7, 2026, the West Virginia Division of Highways (WVDOH) awarded a construction contract for the first of several projects to extend Corridor H from Wardensville to the Virginia state line.

Triton Construction Inc. was awarded a contract for $85,425,000 to build an approximately 3.74-mile section of Corridor H from the Trout Run Cutoff Road to Waites Run Road. The contract includes grading and drainage work, the construction of twin bridges at Trout Run, and paving for approximately the first 1.5 miles of new highway.

"Awarding the initial construction project for the Wardensville to Virginia state line section of Corridor H is a major milestone," said state Transportation Secretary Todd Rumbaugh. "Thanks to the steady dedication of our WVDOH staff, we are moving past the years of debate and taking a massive step closer to completion."

On Wednesday, July 1, 2023, U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., announced an award of $23 million toward the project from the U.S. Department of Transportation's (USDOT) Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) grant program.

The section to Waites Run Road is the first of four planned construction projects to carry Corridor H the 6.8 miles from Wardensville to the Virginia state line. Tuesday's contract was awarded from a special bid letting conducted by the WVDOH on Tuesday, June 16, 2026.

On Monday, June 22, 2026, the WVDOH officially opened an approximately 11-mile of section of Corridor H from Kerens to Parsons at a ceremony attended by Rumbaugh, Gov. Patrick Morrisey, Capito, and federal highways officials.

Approximately 112 miles of Corridor H is currently open to traffic, with a little less than 20 miles to go. The section from Wardensville to the Virginia state line is expected to be open by late 2032, with the entire corridor complete by late 2034.

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Long-term lane closure on Silver Memorial Bridge

Travelers can expect a long-term lane closure on the Silver Memorial Bridge in Mason County while parts are manufactured to replace an expansion joint. West Virginia Division of Highways (WVDOH) District 1 bridge crews have been making makeshift repairs to the expansion joint for some time, but several teeth broke out in early July. The failure will require replacement of the entire expansion joint. The expansion joint manufacturer will have to fabricate a brand new expansion joint. The process of ordering, manufacturing, and receiving the new expansion joint could take nine months or more.

[Plutonic Panda]

10' wide bike lane and it's for westbound only? That's odd.

[seicer]

It's an oddity that I included in my remarks to the project manager. The state should go a step further and rebuild the sidewalks to include a shared path instead of bike lanes.

[The_Ginger]

The WVDOT website, transportation.wv.gov, has recently undergone a website overhaul. I like the new one better, as the old one could be confusing at times. Notable exclusions at the time include the Design Guide for Signing and the Sign Fabrication Manual. I'm not a fan of the newer logo though. WVDOT is known for using FHWA font variants on social media and other places, but instead of doing the same for the top logo, they use bone-standard Arial.

Another minor thing that probably only concerns me is that there's no SVG WVDOH/DOT logo yet.

[Dirt Roads]

The WVDOT website, transportation.wv.gov, has recently undergone a website overhaul. I like the new one better, as the old one could be confusing at times. Notable exclusions at the time include the Design Guide for Signing and the Sign Fabrication Manual. I'm not a fan of the newer logo though. WVDOT is known for using FHWA font variants on social media and other places, but instead of doing the same for the top logo, they use bone-standard Arial.

Another minor thing that probably only concerns me is that there's no SVG WVDOH/DOT logo yet.

Reposting.  Sadly, the posted list of Control Destinations (TED-220) has reverted back to the original 1993 (even though there has been at least three updates posted in various places over the past 25 years or so).  Was hoping to see how the new WV-243 was handled.

[The_Ginger]

There's a flurry of construction in my local area of Interstate 77.

— One lane is closed on the bridge over US 33/WV 2/CR 56 at the Silverton/Ravenswood interchange. It looks like the construction crews have put wood sheets over a crumbling part of the concrete over top of the supports (did that make sense?) I assume that new concrete will be poured.

— The much-needed re-paving project from Ravenswood to Ripley has begun. It is just a removal of the first layer and a new layer of asphalt is being laid. That segment is absolutely trash, and there was likely more patching than actual asphalt. As of 2 PM today, the southbound lanes have been switched over to the left lane with new asphalt. The northbound lanes are still on the old side, and the crews were painting lines. The new pavement runs from the 5-8 month old Ripley-Fairplain pavement to 2 miles away from Silverton/Ravenswood.

— The high-mast lighting project looks to be nearing completion. Fore the last month, the lights have all looked like the below photo, but today the assemblies were lowered via cables and workers were installing the lights at Ravenswood, but not Ripley. I will give updates as they are available.

[Bitmapped]

Triton Construction has been rehabbing and replacing a number of bridges on I-79 in North Central West Virginia. They've been working on the White Day Creek bridges at the Monongalia/Marion County line, where they are currently constructing a new bridge in the narrow space between the two existing structures. They've been using a pair of traveling cranes on tall legs, where each end rides on one of the existing spans, to move items around.

There was apparently a malfunction with one of the cranes this morning that caused a concrete barrier to hit three construction workers, knocking them off the bridge deck. These bridges are about 90 feet high. One of the workers was killed in the accident.

https://www.wdtv.com/2026/09/22/2-workers-injured-after-falling-off-bridge-marion-county/

[The_Ginger]

NEW BUFFALO BRIDGE INTERCHANGE OPEN TO TRAFFIC

The new intersection of WV 869 and WV 817 (Old US 35), in Putnam County, is open to traffic.
 
In February 2025, Bear Contracting LLC was awarded a contract for approximately $6.3 million of completely realign the junction of WV 869 and WV 817, eliminating an accident-prone intersection and allowing a straight shot onto the Buffalo Bridge.
 
Thirty-seven crashes had been recorded at the old intersection since 2019. The new interchange is intended to be both safer, and smoother.

https://transportation.wv.gov/article/new-buffalo-bridge-interchange-open-traffic

I'm a bit concerned that a direct WVDOT press release is confusing "interchange" and "intersection"...
This looks like a much-needed improvement, but I don't know why there isn't a direct ramp from WV 817 southbound to the new connector road on part of what used to be WV 817. It seems like a no-brainer and I can't fathom why they wouldn't do it (weaving concerns, maybe).

The improvement is already on Google Maps and I just added it to OSM.

[Dirt Roads]

I'm a bit concerned that a direct WVDOT press release is confusing "interchange" and "intersection"...

From what I can tell, the DOH (and its predecessor, the State Road Commission) always used the term "interchange" whenever the two roads crossed each other at different levels.  The same term applied at the south end of the Winfield Toll Bridge; same goes for the south end of the Dunbar Toll Bridge (which, like several others in the state are still called "toll bridges"). 

This looks like a much-needed improvement, but I don't know why there isn't a direct ramp from WV 817 southbound to the new connector road on part of what used to be WV 817. It seems like a no-brainer and I can't fathom why they wouldn't do it (weaving concerns, maybe).

In this case, it make sense as there is much more traffic from the Winfield end (south of the interchange) than is coming from Pliny.  But I share your general concern, as many highway agencies are removing the old diagonal road and changing everything perpendicular when the majority of traffic would be better served by a ramp using the pre-existing alignment.

[PColumbus73]

I'm a bit concerned that a direct WVDOT press release is confusing "interchange" and "intersection"...

From what I can tell, the DOH (and its predecessor, the State Road Commission) always used the term "interchange" whenever the two roads crossed each other at different levels.  The same term applied at the south end of the Winfield Toll Bridge; same goes for the south end of the Dunbar Toll Bridge (which, like several others in the state are still called "toll bridges"). 

This looks like a much-needed improvement, but I don't know why there isn't a direct ramp from WV 817 southbound to the new connector road on part of what used to be WV 817. It seems like a no-brainer and I can't fathom why they wouldn't do it (weaving concerns, maybe).

In this case, it make sense as there is much more traffic from the Winfield end (south of the interchange) than is coming from Pliny.  But I share your general concern, as many highway agencies are removing the old diagonal road and changing everything perpendicular when the majority of traffic would be better served by a ramp using the pre-existing alignment.

Maybe to control speed?

[Dirt Roads]

<snipped>  But I share your general concern, as many highway agencies are removing the old diagonal road and changing everything perpendicular when the majority of traffic would be better served by a ramp using the pre-existing alignment.

Maybe to control speed?

Perhaps.  Around here, NCDOT has ripped out many of the diagonal routes.  On the few that remain, we do see traffic (many cars) that use the diagonal like a high-speed offramp and often cut off traffic that just made a left turn (and not only has the right-of-way, but often is faster than the folks shooting up the diagonal).  Can't say that I've ever seen that in West Virginia.

While I'm thinking about it, the DOH has a hybrid approach over south of Hurricane where WV-34 meets US-60.  (Sorry, but Ducky is not letting me link to the pin location on the map).