| US 522 | |||
| Get started | unger | ||
| End | Berkeley Springs | ||
| Length | 19 mi | ||
| Length | 31 km | ||
|
|||
According to act-test-centers, US 522 is a US Highway in the US state of West Virginia. The road crosses the eastern part of the state for a short time and is 31 kilometers long.
Travel directions
US 522 in Virginia comes from Winchester and passes through the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, as a straight road of 30 kilometers. The route does not visit places of interest in West Virginia, nor does it cross major roads. US 522 in Maryland then continues toward I-70.
History
US 522 was one of the original US Highways of 1926, but at the time it ran no further south than Lewiston, Pennsylvania, later Hancock, Maryland. In 1944, US 522 passed through West Virginia when the route was extended to Powhatan, Virginia. The route has virtually no significance for traffic within West Virginia. The only place on the route is the 600-person village of Berkeley Springs.
The original bridge over the Potomac River on the Maryland border was located at Church Street in Hancock, Maryland. This bridge was swept away in 1936 by a flood. In 1939 a new bridge opened along the west side of Hancock, about 750 meters west of the original bridge.
West Virginia Turnpike
| I-77 | |||
| Begin | Princeton | ||
| End | Charleston | ||
| Length | 142 km | ||
|
|||
According to liuxers, the West Virginia Turnpike is a toll road in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The highway runs from Princeton to Charleston and is part of Interstate 77. Interstate 64 is also double-numbered for a significant portion of the route. The West Virginia Turnpike is 142 kilometers long.
Travel directions
At Princeton, about 10 miles north of the Virginia border, toll-free Interstate 77 becomes the West Virginia Turnpike, which runs northward across the Cumberland Plateau. Characteristic of the landscape are the dense forests and the rapid successive height differences, although the mountains are not really that high compared to the valleys. The toll road is relatively straight as far as Beckley, and south of Beckley Interstate 64 merges from Lexington. North of Beckley the track is much more twisty with substandard alignment. There are also no important connections here. The last part of the route leads through the valley of the Kanawha River, on the outskirts of the capital Charleston, the West Virginia Turnpike rejoins the toll-free I-64 and I-77.
History
Following other states in the region, West Virginia also wanted a superhighway, such as the Pennsylvania Turnpike or the Ohio Turnpike. The very mountainous nature of West Virginia made a 2×2 toll road unaffordable at the time. The original plans in the early 1950s envisioned a much longer route, starting in either Parkersburg or Wheeling, and running all the way to Princeton in the south of the state. Due to cost considerations, the route was eventually shortened to the 142-mile line between Princeton and Charleston. The final route was selected in November 1951 and construction of the toll road began in 1952.
The West Virginia Turnpike was opened in two phases, on September 2, 1954, the southern 58 kilometers between Princeton and Beckley opened to traffic, in November 1954 the 84 kilometers to Charleston followed. The toll road was a super two at the time, with 1×2 lanes and grade separated intersections. There were three service areas that were accessible on the ground floor. There were six connections at the time. All artwork across the West Virginia Turnpike was prepared for a second lane.
Traffic boomed in the 1960s, which was originally an empty route as no other highways connected, turned into a deadly super two in the 1960s and 1970s with numerous head-on collisions. Traffic jams also started to occur on busy days. Toll-free Interstate Highways were built in West Virginia in the 1960s and 1970s, and $200 million in contracts were signed in 1976 to widen the toll road to 2×2 lanes to meet Interstate Highway design requirements.. In 1979 the first section was widened at Princeton. The remainder of the route was doubled to 2×2 lanes between 1980 and 1987, the last section on the west side of Beckley. In 1988, the interchange with I-64 at Beckley opened to traffic. Although the West Virginia Turnpike was doubled, alignment was mostly not improved, making the route substandard by today ‘s standards with plenty of tight turns.
Tol
The West Virginia Turnpike operates on an open toll system, without tickets. One has to pay three tolls for the full length, and the toll is $4 per toll station. West Virginia E -ZPass users must pay $2.60 per toll booth, E-ZPass users from other states will not receive a discount. Tolls were rarely raised historically, making it a relatively cheap toll road, but so is the quality of the road surface, especially with worn concrete. In 2019, however, tolls have doubled.
