James River and Kanawha Turnpike
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The James River and Kanawha Turnpike was built to facilitate portage of shipments of passengers and freight by water between the western reaches of the
James River via the James River and Kanawha Canal and the eastern reaches of the Kanawha River
.
Originally proposed by a young
Collis P. Huntington completed the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) from the head of navigation at Richmond, Virginia to the Ohio River at Huntington, West Virginia
(named in his honor), and the canal finally succumbed to the competition and the advancing transportation technology of the railroads. In the 1880s, the canal was bought and dismantled by one of the railroads, which built along the towpath and soon became part of the C & O.
Turnpike today
The Turnpike portion of the combination envisioned by Washington remained a major roadway much longer, and was only supplanted by the completion of
West Virginia Turnpike, a scenic and bucolic interlude, or both. The name of the roadway is now held by the Kanawha Turnpike, an outer road running parallel to I-64 and Route 60. The road sprouts off US 60 in Charleston, has an intersection with West Virginia Route 601 (WV 601) and separates in the Spring Hill neighborhood of South Charleston.[1] The road then continues in Jefferson
for around a mile before merging back onto US 60.
References
- ^ "Portion of Kanawha Turnpike to close overnight as part of Jefferson Road project". transportation.wv.gov. Retrieved 2023-11-07.
Sources
- Peyton, Billy Joe (May 29, 2012). "James River & Kanawha Turnpike". e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia. Retrieved December 2, 2014.
- Dunaway, Wayland Fuller (1922). History of the James River and Kanawha Company. New York: Columbia University.