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.