US 30 and 33 in West Virginia

US 30 in West Virginia

US 30
Get started East Liverpool
End Chester
Length 4 mi
Length 6 km
Route
OhioChester

Pennsylvania

US 30 is a US Highway in the US state of West Virginia. The route takes you for 6 kilometers through the far north of the state.

  • SEARCHFORPUBLICSCHOOLS: Provides a list of all public primary and high schools in West Virginia, including street address, contact phone, and zip code for each school.

Travel directions

US 30 at Chester.

US 30 in Ohio comes from East Liverpool via a toll bridge over the Ohio River and then is a two-lane road through Chester, the only place on the route, before US 30 in Pennsylvania continues towards Pittsburgh.

  • USPRIVATESCHOOLSFINDER.COM: Provides a list of all private primary and elementary schools in West Virginia, including street address, contact phone, and zip code for each school.

History

US 30 was created in 1926 as a transcontinental route. In 1977, the Jennings Randolph Bridge opened over the Ohio River, replacing a bridge built in 1897.

US 33 in West Virginia

US 33
Get started brandy wine
End Ravenswood
Length 222 mi
Length 357 km
Route
VirginiaFranklin

Elkins

Buckhannon

Weston

Glenville

Spencer

Ripley

Ravenswood

Ohio

US 33 is a US Highway in the US state of West Virginia. The road forms an east-west route through the center of the state, from the Virginia border through Elkins and Ripley to the Ohio border. US 33 is 357 kilometers long in West Virginia.

Travel directions

US 33 in Pendleton County in eastern West Virginia.

Although a number that should run from south to north, US 33 runs from east to west, partly even to the southwest. The road is largely secondary in character and mostly two-lane, the main stretch running from Elkins to Interstate 79 at Weston, which is a divided highway. The route crosses the Appalachian Mountains and therefore has many height differences, partly because the route runs perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the mountain ridges, and therefore goes continuously from mountain to valley. Between Ripley and Ravenswood, US 33 is about 13 kilometers with Interstate 77 double-numbered. At Ravenswood, US 33 crosses the Ohio River and the Ohio border.

Eastern West Virginia

The border between Virginia and West Virginia is formed by Shenandoah Mountain, a ridge of up to 1,340 meters in height. US 33 in Virginia comes from Harrisonburg and crosses the border here via an approximately 1050 meter high mountain pass. This section is winding and steep, with 500 meters of elevation gain over a short distance. On the first 120 kilometers to Elkins, the US 33 has a winding course, one crosses several mountain ridges, making the US 33 a succession of mountain passes around 1000 meters altitude. West of Franklin, the road reaches nearly 1,100 feet above sea level at River Knobs. This route is time consuming but there are hardly any places larger than a hamlet on the route. Two more important roads are crossed on this route, the US 220at Franklin and the US 250 at Elkins.

From Elkins US 33 is considerably better developed, until I-79 at Weston US 33 coincides with US 48, later also US 119, this part is a 2×2 divided highway through the hills. The road bypasses both Elkins and Buckhannon and joins Interstate 79 at Weston.

Western West Virginia

The Ravenswood Bridge over the Ohio River.

The US 33 and US 119 have been double-numbered for a long time between Buckhannon and Spencer, a route of 130 kilometers. This part is secondary in character, it is a winding single lane road, which, however, does not serve any larger villages except Weston. US 33/119 runs parallel to I-79 here for some distance, although this section mainly runs east-west, but so does I-79. The area is sparsely populated, densely forested, with narrow, winding valleys around ridges. However, US 33 does not have the large height differences here as in the east of the state.

US 119 branches south at Spencer, then US 33 continues west for another 25 miles through similar terrain to I-77 at Ripley. Between Ripley and Ravenswood, US 19 merges with Interstate 77, at which point US 33 turns off to form a 2×2 divided highway between I-77 and Ravenswood. Two turns leads to the Ravenswood Bridge, which spans the Ohio River and also forms the border with the state of Ohio. US 33 in Ohio then continues to Athens and Columbus.

History

US 33 was added to the network of US Highways in 1938 and has run through the state of West Virginia ever since. The route has changed only slightly since then. The route has always had a secondary character within West Virginia, the more northerly US 50 was a more important east-west route.

The westernmost section is the shortest route from Charlotte to Columbus, but it hasn’t always been that way, as there was no fixed connection across the Ohio River in this area for a long time. There was a ferry service at Ravenswood, which US 33 did not use, however, US 33 crossed the Ohio River a lot further west via the Pomeroy-Mason Bridge. The route through West Virginia was therefore 32 kilometers longer than the current route. In 1981, the Ravenswood Bridge opened as part of a large-scale realignment of US 33 in southeastern Ohio. Then the part between Ravenswood and I-77 was also constructed as a 2×2 divided highway.

Farther east, the section between Elkins and I-79 at Weston is part of Corridor H of the Appalachian Development Highway System, also known as US 48 since 2002. This section has been upgraded to a 2×2 divided highway. In 1972 the first section, only 1 kilometer long, opened at the height of the I-79 at Weston. Between 1975 and 1979 the road was built further east to Lorentz as a divided highway, after which construction was halted for some time. In 1991-1994 the rest as far as Elkins opened to traffic.

US 33 in West Virginia