Corridor H

West Virginia expects Corridor H to be extended east through Frederick and Shenandoah counties to I-81, parallel to US 48/Virginia Route 55
Source: Corridor H Authority, Maps

Corridor H is the highway connection in West Virginia going east from I-79 to I-81 in Virginia. The road is one of the 23 corridors in the Appalachian Development Highway System, created in the 1965 Appalachian Regional Development Act. One option was for a new Corridor H road to link Elkins, West Virginia with I-81 at New Market. In 1994, after completion of an Environmental Impact Study, West Virginia officials chose the "northern route" and defined the eastern destination to be the I-66/I-81 junction in Virginia.

In court, opposition to a new highway through environmentally and culturally sensitive areas was led by a group called Corridor H Alternatives (CHA). The northern route reduced environmental objections while still meeting West Virginia's economic objectives::¹

The Virginia Inland Port is located on I-66 just east of where Corridor H will join I-81 – providing much-needed access to international ports for West Virginia manufacturers and new jobs for Virginia as those goods come from the Mountain State.

When complete, Corridor H will stretch 130 miles across the mountains from I-79 at Weston, cross the border into the Commonwealth of Virginia and travel 13 miles to meet the junction of I-66 and I-81 and open an entire region to new economic development and increased tourism.

A mediated settlement in 2000 of a lawsuit filed by Corridor H Alternatives (CHA) led to dividing construction of Corridor H into nine phases. The settlement delayed Phase 9, the segment from Wardensville to the Virginia state line, for two decades.

The Federal Highway Administration amended its Record of Decision for an Environmental Impact Statement in May 2003 to authorize the final route in West Virginia. In Virginia the Department of Transportation (VDOT) placed signs on Route 55 in 2003 identifying it as US 48.²

Virginia residents have consistently opposed building that highway segment. Between 1992-1995 the Virginia Commonwealth Transportation Board studied options to build the 14-mile stretch from the state line to I-81, but stopped after strong opposition was clear. No funding is available to build the stretch today, but West Virginia's completion of Corridor H is expected to spur new pressure for construction.

West Virginia plans to extend Corridor H all the way to the state line with Virginia
Source: West Virginia Department of Highways, Wardensville to Virginia State Line, Preferred Alternative and Preliminary Alignment

In 2022, the Shenandoah County Board of Supervisors and the Town Council in Strasburg formally adopted new resolutions expressing their objections. The Alliance for the Shenandoah Valley, now the leading opponent in Virginia with a land use and conservation agenda, said in 2025:³

If completed as envisioned by West Virginia legislators, this poorly planned highway expansion will bulldoze through the Virginia state line, into the George Washington National Forest, through the Cedar Creek drainage, and create a huge interstate exchange where the Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historical Park now lies.

Turnpikes of Virginia

US 48/Virginia Route 55 is the current 2-lane highway through Shenandoah County from I-81 to the West Virginia line
Source: ESRI, ArcGIS Online

Links

• Alliance for the Shenandoah Valley
• Appalachian Regional Commission
• Conflict in the Mountains: The Story of Corridor H in West Virginia
• Corridor H Authority
• Millenium Highway
• West Virginia Highways Page
• Virginia Highways
• US 48
• VA 55
• Virginia's Newest US Highway: The Corridor 'H' Saga Solved?
• Routing of the Trans America Corridor
• West Virginia Department of Transportation
• 2000 Settlement Agreement
• Corridor H

Corridor H is one of 23 designated corridors in the Appalachian Development Highway System (AHDS)
Source: Appalachian Regional Commission, tatus of the Appalachian Development Highway System as of September 30, 2024

References

extending Corridor H to I-81 would cut through high-value "ecological cores" in the Valley and Ridge physiographic province
Source: Virginia Department of Conservation (DCR), Natural Heritage Data Explorer