WV Highways

Highways

• West Virginia’s Interstate system, which includes three percent of all roadway lane miles in the state, carries 28 percent of all vehicle travel in the state.
  
  
• Since Interstate construction began in 1956, total vehicle miles of travel in West Virginia have increased by 273 percent.
  
  
• The number of vehicles in the state has increased by 147 percent since 1956.
  
  
• Eight percent of West Virginia’s urban Interstates and 21 percent of the state’s rural Interstates are considered congested because they carry traffic levels that result in significant delays during peak travel hours.
  
  
• Between 1990 and 2004, vehicle miles of travel on West Virginia’s Interstates increased by 57 percent, while lanes on the system increased by only nine percent.
  
  
• From 1990 to 2004, the average annual amount of travel per Interstate lane-mile in West Virginia increased by 44 percent.
  
  
• Travel on West Virginia’s Interstate highways is expected to increase by 67 percent by the year 2026.
  
  
• According to the West Virginia Department of Transportation, by 2026, nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of the state’s Interstate highway system will be in need of significant rehabilitation or reconstruction to provide a smooth pavement surface.
  
  
• The West Virginia Department of Transportation has also found that it will need to add additional lanes along 142 miles of its existing 555-mile Interstate system by the year 2026 in order to relieve growing traffic congestion.
  
  
• One percent of West Virginia’s Interstate pavements are in poor condition and another nine percent are in mediocre condition. An additional nine percent of Interstate pavements in the state are in fair condition.
  
  
• West Virginia is 49th in capital investment per state-maintained highway mile, spending only $7,574 per lane mile compared with the national average of $23,967.
  
  
• While the U.S. average is only 20 percent, West Virginia is responsible for 92 percent (36,703 miles) of the public highway mileage in the state.
  
  
• The U.S. average is 15,400 miles of state-maintained roads.