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presents

The Roads and Rails of Monroe County, WV and Giles County, VA /

WV 12

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Highway	Start	Terminus	Length (km)
WV 12	US 219, Peterstown	Monroe County line near Indian Mills	18
WV 12 (original)	Giles County, Virginia state line, Peterstown	Monroe County line near Indian Mills	18
Implied route through Virginia	Mercer County, West Virginia state line, Glen Lyn	Monroe County, West Virginia state line, Peterstown	8

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Overview

Monroe County and Giles County are outside the realm of focus for this Mercer- and Summers-oriented project. But an exception must be made for WV 12: This highway's historical route included a 26-kilometre interlude between its Mercer County and Summers County segments, taking it past Peters Mountain, Red Sulphur Springs...and even a segment outside the state of West Virginia!

A West Virginia state route outside of West Virginia: How could that be?? Well, it's like this: From 1943 to the 1970s, a segment of WV 12 ran from Bluefield to Oakvale (lower yellow arrow). Another segment of WV 12 ran north from Peterstown. In between, the segments were bridged by a concurrency with US 219 and 460 (teal arrow), passing in and out of Virginia in the process.

WV 12's status in Virginia was not official. Signage in Virginia was probably limited to a single "To WV 12" sign at US 219's turn-off in Rich Creek.

North of Peterstown, WV 12's course bears almost due north through the Brush Creek, Fitz Run, and Indian Creek valleys. It ascends a plateau near the county line, and proceeds into Summers County.

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History

WV 12 was one of several highways commissioned in the 1940s to flesh out gaps in the highway map...but its origins are much older than that. The highway's route from Peterstown to Red Sulphur Springs (a popular hotel and tourist spot) was already in place by the mid-19th century, being shown on the 1862 Lloyd's Map. It's also worth noting that prior to the Civil War, the northward deviation of Giles County through the New River Valley did not exist: This area of Virginia fell entirely within Mercer and Monroe.

By 1879, West Virginia had been a state for over ten years. Summers County had been formed; border disputes between West Virginia and Virginia had been settled (resulting in the northward deviation of Giles County on the map), and the course of the road had been extended north to Forest Hill in Summers County. The road was soon also extended south, with ferry service at Glen Lyn.

In 1933, the West Virginia county route system debuted. Monroe County's network of minor roads were rounded up and assigned numbers, with County Route 21 running from the Summers County line south to Red Sulphur Springs and CR 31 connecting Red Sulphur Springs to Peterstown, terminating at WV 24. WV 24 was replaced by US 219 the following year.

In 1942, the state commissioned a new highway to connect Red Sulphur Springs to Hinton and Peterstown: WV 12. Its route followed the pre-existing course of CR 21 and 31, but deviated in three places with newly-constructed segments:

• The 3 kilometres north from downtown Peterstown (above left), rebuilt entirely on the east side of Brush Creek. (Most of the older route is now CR 24/8.)
• A sub-kilometre segment north of Peterstown, straightening out a sharp curve (leaving CR 12/22).
• The 4 kilometres from Ballard and Red Sulphur Springs (above right), built through the Fitz Run valley to replace a road atop the plateau to the west (still CR 31).

Aside from the truncation of its south end point in the 1970s, Route 12's alignment in Monroe County has been unchanged ever since.

Despite the lack of change to WV 12 itself, Route 12's implied concurrency with US 460 in Virginia saw a number of adjustments as that highway was upgraded to Appalachian Development Highway System Corridor Q status in the 1960s and 1970s:

• A: About 1969 (bridge date), a new bridge opened to westbound traffic on US 460 at Glen Lyn. The previous bridge remained in place for eastbound traffic until after 1975.
• B: In 1973 US 460 was realigned at the state line, leaving Virginia SR 648.
• C: By 1975 WV 12 was truncated to Peterstown, finally giving up on the absurdity of its disconnected Mercer County segment (which became WV 112), its L-shaped directional change, and its implied concurrency outside West Virginia.
• D: Also in 1975, US 460 was relocated to a new 4-lane alignment between Glen Lyn and Rich Creek along the former Virginian railway grade, leaving behind Virginia SR T-806 and T-1308.

Since 1996, the entirety of WV 12 in Monroe County has been signed as part of the Farm Heritage Road Byway.

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Fractional spur roads

All of Monroe County's 12-prefixed "fractional" roads were commissioned in and after the 1940s.

Road	Names	Start	Terminus	Length (km)	Notes
12/1	Hansbarger St., Scenic Dr., Baby Farms Rd.	CR 24/8, Peterstown	dead end	insignificant
12/2	Clark Ln.	WV 12, Ballard	dead end	insignificant
12/3	Dunn St., Locust St., Stanley Hill Rd., Howard Dr.	WV 12, Peterstown	WV 12 north of Peterstown	2
12/4	White Oak Lake Rd., Tulip Ln.	WV 12 north of Peterstown	CR 12/22 north of Peterstown	insignificant
12/5	Orchard Addition Rd.	CR 24/8, Peterstown	CR 12/13 near Peterstown	insignificant
12/6	Summit Dr.	WV 12 north of Peterstown	dead end	insignificant
12/7	College Dr.	CR 12/3, Peterstown	dead end	insignificant
12/8	Bozoo Rd.	WV 12 north of Peterstown	CR 24 north of Peterstown	insignificant	Signed as CR 24, which it is a spur of.
12/9	Stanley Hill Rd.	WV 12 north of Peterstown	CR 12/3 north of Peterstown	insignificant
12/10	Mountain View Subdivision Rd., Giles St.	WV 12 north of Peterstown	dead end	insignificant
12/11	Doc Young Rd.	CR 12/13 near Peterstown	CR 12/5 near Peterstown	insignificant
12/12	Giles St.	CR 12/10 north of Peterstown	dead end	insignificant
12/13	Scenic Dr.	CR 12/1 near Peterstown	CR 12/20 near Peterstown	insignificant
12/14	Oak St., Pine St.	CR 12/3, Peterstown	CR 12/3 north of Peterstown	insignificant
12/15	White Oak Lake Rd.	CR 12/4 north of Peterstown	dead end	insignificant
12/16	Fairview Dr.	CR 12/4 north of Peterstown	CR 12/22 north of Peterstown	insignificant
12/17	Walnut St.	CR 12/3 north of Peterstown	dead end	insignificant
12/18	Crossview Estates Rd.	WV 12, Cashmere	dead end	insignificant
12/19	Lower Mill St.	CR 12/5 near Peterstown	dead end	insignificant
12/20	Ballard Ave. (unverified)	CR 12/13 near Peterstown	dead end	insignificant
12/21	(unknown name)	CR 12/11 near Peterstown	dead end	insignificant
12/22	Pleasant St.	WV 12 north of Peterstown	WV 12 north of Peterstown	insignificant	Former alignment of CR 31, WV 12's predecessor road.
12/23	Hemlock St.	CR 12/3 north of Peterstown	dead end	insignificant
12/24	Circle Dr.	CR 12/6 north of Peterstown	CR 12/25 north of Peterstown	insignificant
12/25	McKenzie Ln.	WV 12 north of Peterstown	CR 12/24 north of Peterstown	insignificant	Runs parallel to WV 12.

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Links

• WV 12 - Mapmikey's West Virginia Highways Page

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