List of unused highways in West Virginia facts for kids
Have you ever seen a road that just... stops? Or a highway exit that leads nowhere? These are often called unused highways or stub ramps. They are roads or parts of roads that were built but never fully used, or were closed down later. Sometimes, plans for a highway change, or a bridge closes, leaving behind these interesting pieces of road history.
Unused Roads in West Virginia
Benwood
Just south of Wheeling, there's an unused highway exit along U.S. Route 250 and West Virginia Route 2. This exit used to connect to the Bellaire Bridge, which crossed the Ohio River. However, the bridge closed in 1991, leaving the exit unused.
Crum
In Crum, you can find a "stub" for the Tolsia Highway. This part of the road was finished in 2002. It was built as a four-lane highway with two separate sections for traffic. But now, one section is closed, and the other is used for two-way traffic.
Napier
Near Napier, there's about half a mile of an old, abandoned road that goes north from U.S. Route 19 and West Virginia Route 4. This used to be West Virginia Route 5. It was abandoned when Burnsville Lake was created, as the lake covered part of the old road. Even today, you can still find parts of the old road, like pavement, road signs, and even old utility poles. This area is now used as an access road for the Burnsville Lake Wildlife Management Area. When the lake's water level is low in winter, you can even walk further along the old highway!
Standard
The Memorial Tunnel was once part of the West Virginia Turnpike from 1954 to 1987. It was bypassed when the Turnpike was made wider to four lanes. After that, it was used for special fire safety tests for a big tunnel project in Boston. Today, it's called the Center for National Response. It's a training facility for the West Virginia National Guard, where they learn about responding to serious situations like those involving special weapons or counter-terrorism.
Wheeling
There's another stub near the Interstate 70 and U.S. Highway 250/West Virginia Route 2 interchange in Wheeling, right next to the Wheeling Tunnel. When this interchange opened in 1966, it was designed and partly built for a planned extension of West Virginia Route 2 to the north. However, those plans were eventually canceled, leaving the stub behind.
Kerens
Corridor H is a highway project that will eventually be signed as U.S. Route 48 once it's fully completed from Interstate 79 to the Virginia state line. A large part of Corridor H is already open from I-79 to Kerens. This section is a mix of expressway and freeway and is currently signed as U.S. Route 33, U.S. Route 119, and U.S. Route 219. The divided, four-lane highway currently ends at Randolph County Route 7, but you can see that the pavement and grading continue further north, showing where the road is planned to go next.
