While interstate highways made travel faster, they often bypassed rural areas. The Appalachian Development Highway System was created in 1965 to connect isolated parts of Appalachia—including all of West Virginia—to the larger interstate system. The goal was to create jobs, new industries, and economic growth.

West Virginia has six major routes in the system:

• Corridor D (U.S. 50) runs from the Ohio border to I-79 at Clarksburg. The final section, including a bridge over the Ohio River, was finished in 2008.

• Corridor E (U.S. 48/I-68) connects I-79 near Morgantown to I-70 in Maryland. It was completed in the 1970s (and is now I-68).

• Corridor G (U.S. 119) runs northeast from the Kentucky border to I-64 in Charleston. Completed by the 1990s, it is also called the Robert C. Byrd Freeway.

• Corridor H is still under construction. It will stretch from Weston to Strasburg, Virginia, when finished. While parts are open, some sections—like the stretch near Blackwater Canyon—have raised environmental concerns and construction delays.

• Corridor L (U.S. 19) connects I-77 near Beckley to I-79 near Sutton. It was fully widened by the late 1990s.

• Corridor Q (U.S. 460) runs through Mercer County and links to I-81 in Virginia. It was finished in the 1970s (and is now I-460).