Corridor L: Building and Expanding a Path for Tourism in West Virginia

By Jody Brumage

Corridor L is one of West Virginia’s segments of the Appalachian Development Highway System, connecting two U.S. Interstates, I-77 and I-79. The road travels over one of the state’s most recognizable landmarks, the New River Gorge Bridge, and is an important link to major tourist and recreation sites. Like the other corridor highways in West Virginia, Corridor L was originally planned in 1965 with the passage of the Appalachian Regional Development Act. Construction on the highway, originally a two-lane road, was initiated in 1969 and completed a decade later, extending for 70.2 miles through Raleigh, Fayette, Nicholas, and Braxton Counties.  The famous bridge, carrying the highway over the New River, was completed in 1977 and stood as the world’s longest single-arch steel span (a record which remained unbroken until 2003).​

A map of the Appalachian Corridor Highways in West Virginia. Corridor L is marked in yellow near the center. (e-WV, West Virginia Humanities Council)

The initial construction of Corridor L was expedient in comparison to other roads in the corridor system which were not completed until the late-1990s or early-2000s (Corridor H in the eastern part of West Virginia is still under construction today). However, within a decade of its completion in the late-1970s, the two-lane highway was unable to adequately accommodate the increased amount of traffic moving through the region. As growth in the Beckley and Clarksburg/Fairmont areas on either end of Corridor L continued in the late-1980s, increased traffic on the road led to calls for its expansion.
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Working in collaboration with regional agencies and organizations, Senator Byrd built the case for expanding Corridor L on several points. In addition to accommodating the increased traffic flow on Corridor L, Senator Byrd emphasized the improved safety that would come to the route if it were widened to four-lanes. The expansion was also encouraged as a way to make the region more accessible to tourism for recreational attractions such as the New River Gorge National River, providing a greater boost to the area’s economy. In support of this latter goal, Senator Byrd secured an appropriation that allowed tourism studies to be conducted by West Virginia University, Davis and Elkins College, and Concord University.

The New River Gorge Bridge under construction as part of the new Corridor L highway in 1976.

In September 1992, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved its Energy and Water and Transportation Appropriations Bills, containing $47 million and $50 million, respectively, for expanding a 25-mile section of Corridor L. After the House and Senate reconciled their bills later that fall, the monies approved for the expansion totaled $71 million. The following year, an additional $104 million was appropriated. This initial expansion project was completed in 1994, bringing the four-lane section of Corridor L as far north as Summersville in Nicholas County, a distance of 46 miles, about 65% of the overall length of the highway.
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The remaining section of Corridor L was expanded to four lanes over three years between 1994 and 1997. The expansion required over 1,700 workers who moved an estimated 12 million cubic meters of rock in order to widen the roadbed for the highway. Eight additional bridges and two interchanges were also added to the corridor. In total, the project cost $287 million to complete, utilizing state and federal funding sources. Additional projects that were supported in conjunction with the construction on Corridor L included restoration of the town of Thurmond and the Fayette Station Bridge, both historic sites within the New River Gorge National River. 

Senator Byrd (fourth from left) dedicates the restored Fayette Station Bridge and expansion of Corridor L in 1999. With Senator Byrd are Congressmen Bob Wise and Nick Joe Rahall (2nd and 3rd from left), Governor Cecil Underwood (5th from left), West Virginia Commissioner of Highways Fred VanKirk (6th from left), and Congressman Alan Mollohan (7th from left). The New River Gorge Bridge looms overhead in the background.

​In 1999, Senator Byrd, Congressmen Bob Wise, Nick Joe Rahall, and Alan Mollohan, and Governor Cecil Underwood dedicated the improvements to Corridor L and the restored Fayette Station Bridge (the original crossing replaced by the New River Gorge Bridge). Senator Byrd declared that “Corridor L shows that economic development can happen in rural areas like central West Virginia when the infrastructure is there to support it.” The New River Gorge National River and its associated attractions, as well as recreational outfits along the river, continue to bring thousands of visitors to the region annually. In the same year, the West Virginia Legislature officially named its sections of the Appalachian Development Highway System, including Corridor L, in honor of Senator Byrd.