West Virginia’s two major turnpike travel plazas should reopen by Christmas, with credit card and pay-by-plate toll payments beginning shortly after Jan. 1, 2025.
On Monday, West Virginia Parkways Authority Director of Finance Parrish French also told members of the Joint Legislative Oversight Commission on Department of Transportation Accountability that the remodeled turnpike travel plazas at Bluestone and Beckley are modern and state of the art.
Closed since 2022, French said the state’s largest travel plaza, at Beckley, will offer upgrades across the board.
“It will include separate fueling facilities for cars and trucks,” French said. “And a drive through lane for some restaurants. The options include Wendy’s, Popeyes, Starbucks and Mountaineer Market.”
French said the new Bluestone Travel Plaza will also include separate fueling facilities for trucks with a Wendy’s and a Mountaineer Market snack bar. He said the Morton Travel Plaza will be closing for demolition soon.
French said the budget for turnpike travel plaza upgrades has reached $160 million, and all of the funds came from toll revenue.
With testing periods still being completed, French said he hopes some toll plaza credit card and pay-by-plate lanes will be fully open right after the new year.
“Every new mainline lane will process E-ZPass, cash, credit card and pay-by-plate Toll transactions,” French said. “The coin machines will be gone after all those years, E-ZPass continues to be the most effective, efficient and safe payment method.”
French said patrons will notice new dynamic, variable message digital signs using Daktronic technology over each toll lane.
“The full color signage will increase patron safety and will deliver messages faster and more effectively,” he said.