Wes t Virginia Turnpike Imagine for a moment what it was like to go for a Sunday drive in our most mountainous landscapes in the 1950s. Stunning, to be sure—but with all those sharp curves and one-lane stream crossings, it was a pastime that demanded a driver’s closest attention. So in 1954, West Virginians anticipated, then celebrated, the opening of the West Virginia Turnpike between
Charleston at mid-state and Princeton in the southeastern coalfields. The Turnpike was widely acclaimed as one of the world’s great engineering achievements. The 88-mile superhighway required the construction of many dozens of bridges,
and it cut travel time between the state capital and the southeastern border from four hours to just over two. Its half-mile- long Memorial Tunnel was the first in the nation to be monitored by television. The Turnpike was an unimaginable delight for drivers of our hilly terrain: All of our cherished mountain scenery
to be enjoyed at full speed on relatively flat, relatively straight pavement from end to end. It was a destination in its own right, worth a few dollars just for the experience. When the state Industrial and Tourism Commission created its 1950s “circle tours” brochure, it included the West Virginia Turnpike among the recommended routes. It touted the snack bars available to
northbound drivers at the Bluefield and Morton travel plazas and the Glass House restaurant for southbound drivers at the Beckley Travel Plaza . Times are very different, of course. The Turnpike was upgraded from mostly two lanes to four lanes throughout in the 1980s, and the travel plazas are now modern food court–style stops. Superhighways like this have become part of everyday life. That old engineering marvel, Memorial Tunnel, had to be bypassed when the highway
was upgraded to four lanes—today the tunnel is staged as everything from a subway station accident to a collapsed building to serve as a first-class training site for emergency response. But next time you drive the Turnpike, you might catch a glimpse of the tunnel’s west portal when you’re southbound, on your right, about
four miles past Exit 79 for Sharon —just as you enter the deep roadcut into Paint Creek Mountain that the 1950s construction avoided by boring the tunnel instead. Northbound, you can see the east portal on your left not quite a mile and a half after the Montgomery exit, Exit 74. And stop at Tamarack , the West Virginia handcrafts, fine art, and cuisine showcase beside the Beckley Travel Plaza. You just might find the best souvenir of your whole summer of circle tours through the Mountain Splendorland.
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