Transportation
PROVIDED BY WV DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION. West Virginia has a varied transportation infrastructure. The Mountain State doesn’ t have any oceans, but it does have ports. It also has groundbreaking bridges and every type of hill, valley, twist and turn on its highway system.
The West Virginia Department of Transportation( WVDOT) is made up of eight agencies: aeronautics, highways, motor vehicles, office of administrative hearings, parkways, public port authority, public transit and state rail authority. Maintaining West Virginia’ s transportation system is challenging due to both the state’ s terrain and economy, but the WVDOT has many capable employees who rise to that challenge every day.
West Virginia has 38,770 miles of public roads— 34,691 of which are owned by the state— and 6,958 bridges. The West Virginia Division of Highways is divided into a central office and 10 districts,
each consisting of between four and seven counties. Management at a district level tries to balance the varied needs of the counties, with different challenges presented in different parts of the state. While effort is made to increase the state’ s highway system with new roads, most of the work takes place in preserving and maintaining the existing roads. These maintenance activities include ensuring proper drainage to keep water from destroying pavements and rehabilitating older bridges to give them new life.
West Virginia has an assortment of bridges, and all are important. Smaller bridges on one-lane paved or dirt roads are often the only way for citizens to travel from their homes to nearby communities. From the Wheeling Suspension Bridge in Ohio County to the Philippi Covered Bridge in Barbour County to the Phil G. McDonald Bridge— the highest
THANK YOU
to ZMM Architects & Engineers and the following members of the Contractors Association of West Virginia for their support of the Listen Where You Live concert, part of the 2018 ZMM POPS Series presented by the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra:
Photo by Perry Bennett Photography
Photo by Perry Bennett Photography
interstate bridge in the country— in Raleigh County, West Virginia’ s bridges are proof that a land of mountains and rivers is destined to also be a land of astonishing bridges.
Airports are also vital to West Virginia’ s transportation system. From private to commercial and passenger to air cargo, the state’ s airports play a significant role in its economy and the communities they serve. West Virginia is home to 24 airports, including 17 general aviation and seven commercial airports. Of the seven commercial airports, five are served by the Essential Air Service program. These airports are also located close to other intermodal forms of transportation, thereby allowing greater access and competitive transportation opportunities to businesses and individuals.
The West Virginia State Rail Authority owns and operates the South Branch Valley Railroad, oversees the West Virginia Central Railroad, maintains train stations in the Eastern Panhandle to connect citizens to Washington, D. C., and banks old rail lines to be used in the future and as rail trails. The authority also works to grow the tourism industry with short-line tourist trains that give riders a way to access beautiful West Virginia landscapes. Many industries, such as the thriving poultry industry, rely on the railroads to move their goods to market.
The West Virginia Port Authority works where highway, rail and water transportation are combined. Barges make use of the state’ s rivers as a means of transporting great volumes of material. West Virginia’ s ports include the Buffalo-Putnam Port District, Cabell-Wayne Port District, Port of Huntington Tri- State, Jackson County Maritime and Industrial Center and Kanawha Valley Local Port Authority District.
Positioned within 500 miles of the most densely populated centers in the country, West Virginia has great potential to be a hub of industry and innovation. The people of the WVDOT agencies have worked tirelessly to create the systems and opportunities we have and continue to work to expand them.
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WEST VIRGINIA EXECUTIVE