The Cattle Chute (West Huntington Bridge)

[Dirt Roads]

Just seeing this in Strange News.  Yesterday (Wednesday, June 24, 2021), a cattle truck overturned on the westbound lanes of I-64 about a mile east of the West Huntington Bridge (Exit 6).  Cattle blocked both lanes of I-64, plus several took the exit and took off across the bridge into Ohio.  For those who have never seen the short Super 2 leading up to the bridge on the West Virginia side, it has looked like a cattle chute since the Jersey barrier was installed down the middle back in the early 1980s.  Now it really is.

https://www.wowktv.com/traffic/overturned-cattle-truck-shuts-down-i-64-in-huntington/
https://www.irontontribune.com/2021/06/25/cattle-from-i-64-accident-make-their-way-to-chesapeake/

[sparker]

Just seeing this in Strange News.  Yesterday (Wednesday, June 24, 2021), a cattle truck overturned on the westbound lanes of I-64 about a mile east of the West Huntington Bridge (Exit 6).  Cattle blocked both lanes of I-64, plus several took the exit and took off across the bridge into Ohio.  For those who have never seen the short Super 2 leading up to the bridge on the West Virginia side, it has looked like a cattle chute since the Jersey barrier was installed down the middle back in the early 1980s.  Now it really is.

https://www.wowktv.com/traffic/overturned-cattle-truck-shuts-down-i-64-in-huntington/
https://www.irontontribune.com/2021/06/25/cattle-from-i-64-accident-make-their-way-to-chesapeake/

That's actually quite funny!  But the incident probably isn't protracted or consequential enough to instigate a revisiting of the Kenova crossing originally (late 1990's) planned as the I-73/74 crossing of the Ohio River adjacent to the existing NS rail bridge.  Even with the Interstate prospects shelved, a higher-capacity crossing in the vicinity would be viable on its own merits. 

[Bitmapped]

Just seeing this in Strange News.  Yesterday (Wednesday, June 24, 2021), a cattle truck overturned on the westbound lanes of I-64 about a mile east of the West Huntington Bridge (Exit 6).  Cattle blocked both lanes of I-64, plus several took the exit and took off across the bridge into Ohio.  For those who have never seen the short Super 2 leading up to the bridge on the West Virginia side, it has looked like a cattle chute since the Jersey barrier was installed down the middle back in the early 1980s.  Now it really is.

There isn't a Jersey barrier along the West Huntington Expressway. The 4-lane parts have a raised median, and the 2-lane parts have just a striped double yellow line.

That's actually quite funny!  But the incident probably isn't protracted or consequential enough to instigate a revisiting of the Kenova crossing originally (late 1990's) planned as the I-73/74 crossing of the Ohio River adjacent to the existing NS rail bridge.  Even with the Interstate prospects shelved, a higher-capacity crossing in the vicinity would be viable on its own merits. 

A far eastern crossing roughly aligning with WV 193 is being studied, but nothing else on the western end of Huntington. The current bridge is busy but adequate.

[Dirt Roads]

Just seeing this in Strange News.  Yesterday (Wednesday, June 24, 2021), a cattle truck overturned on the westbound lanes of I-64 about a mile east of the West Huntington Bridge (Exit 6).  Cattle blocked both lanes of I-64, plus several took the exit and took off across the bridge into Ohio.  For those who have never seen the short Super 2 leading up to the bridge on the West Virginia side, it has looked like a cattle chute since the Jersey barrier was installed down the middle back in the early 1980s.  Now it really is.

There isn't a Jersey barrier along the West Huntington Expressway. The 4-lane parts have a raised median, and the 2-lane parts have just a striped double yellow line.

How sad.  The West Huntington Bridge had the first section of Jersey barriers that I had ever seen in person.  Followed shortly after when I-64 and I-77 were first completed in Charleston.

[seicer]

It never had barriers - it's always been just double yellow lines. The expressway has always been just a raised median, too. The shoulders are too narrow to accommodate anything else.

[Dirt Roads]

It never had barriers - it's always been just double yellow lines. The expressway has always been just a raised median, too. The shoulders are too narrow to accommodate anything else.

Ouch, my memory must be really bad.  I do remember the old tollgate area before and after tolls were removed.  And also when they pulled out the tollgate and straightened out with double yellow lines.  It was still that way when I worked in Ashland two summers in the early 1980s.  But some of folks in the railroad engineering department would run over to South Point for lunch at least two or three times a week.  I also had a fondness for the McDonalds in South Point (actually Sybene, next to Big Sandy so-Fine Furniture) because they used hot sausage for their biscuits (we highly suspected they were getting Bob Evans hot sausage).  But I don't remember the viaduct between the Madison Avenue and Adams Avenue exits being four lanes.  Only from Madison Avenue back to I-64.

[seicer]

I wish I could find a photo of the toll booths or opening day photos but those have eluded me. Not a photogenic bridge by any stretch...

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To the original topic: I was driving through the area right after the crash. Was on US 52 going toward I-64 and had to turn around in the median so that I could go back into Ohio, through Chesapeake, and out toward Barboursville via the unofficial bypass. It easily added 45 minutes but it was better than sitting in standstill traffic on I-64.