Interstate 70 in West Virginia

Interstate 70
Location of I-70 (in red) in West Virginia
Route information
Maintained by WVDOH
Length	14.45 mi[1] (23.26 km)
Existed	1963[2]–present
NHS	Entire route
Major junctions
West end	I-70 at Ohio state line
Major intersections	US 40 / US 250 in Wheeling I-470 in Wheeling
East end	I-70 at Pennsylvania state line
Location
Country	United States
State	West Virginia
Counties	Ohio
Highway system
Interstate Highway System Main Auxiliary Suffixed Business Future West Virginia State Highway System Interstate US State
← WV 69 → WV 71

Interstate 70 (I-70) is a portion of the Interstate Highway System that runs from near Cove Fort, Utah, at a junction with I-15 to Baltimore, Maryland. It crosses the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia through Ohio County and the city of Wheeling. This segment is the shortest of all states through which I-70 passes, crossing West Virginia for only 14.45 miles (23.26 km). The Fort Henry Bridge carries I-70 from Wheeling Island across the Ohio River and into downtown Wheeling before the freeway enters the Wheeling Tunnel. I-470, a southerly bypass of Wheeling and the lone auxiliary Interstate Highway in West Virginia, is intersected near Elm Grove. Before crossing into Pennsylvania, I-70 passes The Highlands, a major shopping center in the panhandle, and the Bear Rocks Lake Wildlife Management Area. On average, between 27,000 and 53,000 vehicles use the freeway every day.

The first road that entered Wheeling was a post road completed in 1794 that connected Wheeling to Morgantown. The National Road was the first interstate road, completed in 1818, that connected Wheeling to Cumberland, Maryland. When the United States Numbered Highway System was created in 1926, the National Road was designated U.S. Route 40 (US 40). The I-70 designation was brought to the Northern Panhandle with the passage of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, and it was built as a controlled-access highway, bypassing portions of the old National Road. The first portions of I-70 in West Virginia were opened in 1963, and construction was completed in 1971.