Day: November 7, 2025

As seen from the Olson Firetower, they are blasting Corridor H through the mountains from Kearns to Parsons.

The new superhighway, when fully built out from I-66 in Stratsburg, VA will take hours off the drive to I-78 in Weston WV, unlocking both the wilderness areas and natural areas of the northern part of state to thousands from Washington DC and Pittsburgh Penna, but it's not without controversy.
For one, it's expensive to blast through mountains and build many bridges hundreds of feet above the valleys below, and only comes at the troughs of federal largess. And it's not even built up to full interstate standards, with many at-grade intersections due to enormous cost of the highway, one of most expensive per mile currently under active construction nationwide.

Second, several sections are very controversial, such as whether to build the road north or south of Thomas. The southerly route is much shorter, but it would cross the North Fork of Blackwater Canyon, significant wetlands and the Coketon Historic-area, once an African American village -- and risks spilling millions of gallons of acid mine discharge into the river. But the northerly route is miles longer, steeper and much more expensive to build. Likewise, VA DOT has opposed the extension through Virginia, despite being on WV Maps. State DOTs ultimately have final say if interstate highways are constructed, if they don't request funding, people will continue to have to get off onto a narrow, steep, twisty road at the state line.

Plus, the existing portions of the expressway are bringing record numbers each year of tourists to northern WV, on narrow, twisty local roads with limited parking, and parks and wilderness areas not prepared to deal with that kind of traffic especially during peak summer and autumn seasons.