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Tractor-Trailer Crash Involving Hazardous Material Closes W.Va. Turnpike

The West Virginia Parkways Authority reports the crash happened in northbound lanes.

Updated on Sept. 28, 2023 at 10:56 a.m.

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) and several other state and local agencies are responding to a tractor trailer crash that occurred on the West Virginia Turnpike near mile marker 62 in Fayette County Thursday morning. The truck was headed northbound and hauling approximately 4,500 gallons of an ammonium nitrate and water solution.

The material has been contained to a ditch line and emergency crews are digging additional containment measures to capture the product and prevent further migration. No streams have been impacted at this time and WVDEP staff and other officials are monitoring the spill closely.

Ammonium nitrate is predominantly used in agriculture as a fertilizer. No evacuation orders have been issued at this time.

An environmental contractor, Evergreen Environmental, is currently on site to remediate the area and an additional contractor is en route to the scene to pump the remaining product from the tractor trailer. No timetable for completion of the cleanup has been set at this time.

The agencies involved include the WVDEP’s Homeland Security and Emergency Response, Hazardous Waste, and Environmental Enforcement units, West Virginia State Police, the State Fire Marshal, Fayette County Emergency Management, and fire department crews from Charleston, Pax, and Mt. Hope.

Updated on Sept. 28, 2023 at 10:33 a.m.

Jeff Miller, executive director of the West Virginia Parkways Authority, said the southbound lanes of I-77 reopened a little after 9:30 a.m., he said northbound lanes could be closed for several hours. Miller said the chemicals from the tractor-trailer did not get into nearby streams.

Miller said Turnpike Detour A will be in effect until the Turnpike reopens. Traffic heading north will take the North Beckley Exit (Exit 48) to US 19, then take US 19 to Interstate 79 near Sutton. Drivers can then take I-79 to Charleston. The detour is approximately 125 miles.

Southbound traffic will see local detours until cleanup is finished.

Original Post

The West Virginia Parkways Authority reports the crash happened in northbound lanes near mile marker 62 in Fayette County, about 6:40 a.m. Both northbound and southbound lanes are currently closed in that area.

Authority communications personnel say the tractor-trailer was carrying 44,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate, a hazardous and flammable compound.

Several agencies, including the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, West Virginia State Police and others are currently on scene.

The turnpike is expected to be closed in both directions until crews can clear the scene. No timetable has been given so far.

Officials say the driver was not hurt in the incident. Traffic is being detoured using a pre-designated plan provided by the Parkways Authority:

If I-77 southbound is closed between exits 85 and 48, traffic will be notified of the closure and if required, detoured at Charleston onto I-79 northbound. Detoured drivers will proceed north on to exit 57 and will then be directed to U.S. 19, where they will travel south to Beckley. From there, drivers can take the exit 48 entrance ramp to I-77 and proceed south.

Motorists traveling east on I-64 will take exit 59 onto I-77 north and will be directed onto I-79 north at exit 104 (I-77) interchange. From here, drivers should proceed with the detour outlined above. If the northbound lanes of I-77 are closed between exits 85 and 44, drivers will be directed to take exit 48 and continue north on U.S. 19 to the exit 57, I-77/U.S. 19 interchange. From there, drivers will proceed south on I-79 to the exit 104 interchange. Drivers will then have the option to proceed north or south on I-77.

Updates on when the turnpike will reopen will come on WV 511.

West Virginia Turnpike Travel Plazas To Be Updated

The West Virginia Parkways Authority will spend $152 million over the next three years to revamp the West Virginia Turnpike’s travel plazas.

In announcing the project on Friday, Parkways Authority Executive Director Jeff Miller said it was past time for the plazas to reflect the changes happening in the state.

“The West Virginia Turnpike in many ways serves as a goodwill ambassador for the state of West Virginia,” he said. “With the boom that West Virginia has experienced as a tourism destination as well as the volume of travel that we experience on an annual basis, the time is now to redevelop these sites.”

Gov. Jim Justice echoed Miller’s comments, emphasizing the number of travelers that interact with the travel plazas.

“3.3 million people, double the population of West Virginia, come through here every year,” he said. “They pull into places that Jeff said are antiquated, they should have been bulldozed years and years ago. We didn’t have the money to do it. If we want to show off and be the frogs that are proud of their own pond, we got to show us off.”

Justice also reminisced about travel plazas being a destination when he was a child, recalling the “Glass House” design of the 1950s.

The Beckley and Bluestone travel plazas will be rebuilt from the ground up starting in February 2023, and are expected to be completed by the end of 2024. The planned renovation of the Morton travel plaza is set for 2025.

Courtesy Patrol: New Sponsor Along W.Va. Turnpike

The West Virginia Parkways Authority announced that State Farm is sponsoring the Courtesy Patrol program along the 88-mile stretch from Charleston to Princeton.

West Virginia Governor Jim Justice says in a news release that his goal is to have people from all over using the turnpike every day, making the well-being of these motorists a top priority.

He says he is excited to work with State Farm to make the safety patrol program better and give peace of mind to those traveling through West Virginia.

The free, state-run program has been renamed the WV Turnpike State Farm Safety Patrol. It helps stranded motorists with flat tires, minor engine problems and other issues.

It is expected to attend to more than 9,000 incidents annually.

State Farm sponsors similar programs in 19 other states.

Officials: Work To Widen Turnpike Expected To Start in July

West Virginia officials said work to widen a section of a turnpike is expected to start in a few months and continue for years, courtesy of $800 million in general obligation bonds.

The Register-Herald reports work is expected to begin in July and will widen the 8-mile section of the turnpike from the Interstate 64 split to U.S. 19 in Beckley.

State Department of Transportation Secretary Tom Smith said the project will cost about $80 million and last about two years.

Smith said another general obligation project he expects to start work soon is the Bridge to Nowhere in Mercer County.

Ground Broken for WV Turnpike: August 29, 1952

On August 29, 1952, groundbreaking ceremonies for the West Virginia Turnpike were held in Mercer County. The state’s only toll road eventually cut driving time between Charleston and Princeton from four hours to two.

The road took less than two years to construct. Despite early plans for a four-lane highway, project costs limited the turnpike to only two lanes in most places. Still, the road was considered modern for the day.

It was first opened to traffic between Princeton and Beckley in September 1954 and then on to Charleston two months later.

In 1958, the turnpike was included in the new interstate highway system, which later required it to be expanded to four lanes throughout. After a slow start, reconstruction began in earnest in December 1976. Other than the wider road, the biggest change in the turnpike was a huge mountain cut in southern Kanawha County that bypassed the obsolete Memorial Tunnel.

Although state officials have long debated removing the road’s tollbooths, the tolls remain in place more than 60 years later as a way to defray maintenance costs and generate other revenues.

Can the DOH take over the state turnpike?

The governor, the legislature, even a special commission on highways are all looking for ways to fund state roads. A select committee on Infrastructure is trying to find ways to save money and increase efficiencies by combining the Division of Highways and the governing authority of the state’s Turnpike, but simply combining the two would create serious legal implications for the state.

Senate Concurrent Resolution 55 requested a study to consolidate the operations and maintenance responsibilities of the state Parkways Authority and the Division of Highways in the hopes of saving money by finding efficiencies.

The Parkways Authority is currently a separate entity responsible only for the 88 miles of turnpike through southern West Virginia. In 2019 when the bond debt on the road is paid off, state law dictates the Commissioner of Highways will decide if the condition of the roadway is good enough for the state to assume control free of tolls.

But state lawmakers want to know, could we save money if we just did that now? The answer, in short, is no. But of course it’s not that simple.

“That would be a problem,” General Manager of the Parkways Authority Greg Barr told legislators Tuesday. “That would violate the impairment of contract clause in the Constitution.”

Barr said should the state choose to consolidate them under the DOH before 2019, it would violate the bond contract.

“When the contract was entered into to sell the bonds by the Parkways Authority, there was representation to the bond holders that the Parkways Authority would be an independent agency that would oversee the maintenance and upkeep of [the Turnpike] and take care of the responsibilities for the bond holders.”

Senator Bill Cole of Mercer County suggested integrating the agency into the DOH, but keeping the Parkways Authority name and governing board to align with the contract. The debt left on the bond then becomes the state’s.

“I would think that if I held that bond, the state of West Virginia might be a little bit more substantive than an authority within the state of West Virginia,” Cole said. “Is that really a technicality that we’re talking about that isn’t a big deal, paying a couple hundred dollars to pay a name and get some approval?”

“In this case it would be a big deal,” responded Brian Helmick, bond counsel for the authority.

Helmick said it is unconstitutional for the state to incur any debt.

“There’s a Constitutional provision that doesn’t allow the state to incur debt without a vote of the people, and when we say a vote of the people, we actually ask the people in west Virginia to vote on an amendment to the Constitution allowing for certain debt to be incurred,” he said. “That has been done a few times over the years, primarily for DOH highway projects.”

So, just pay it off early. Pay off the debt and assume control of the roadway. That’s what Delegate Nancy Guthrie of Kanawha County asked of Helmick. How much would it take to pay it off now?

Helmick said there is about $55 million in principle left on the bond, but you can’t just pay it off when you have funds. The state would incur prepayment penalties to the tune of $7.5 million.

It appears the Parkways Authority is contractually obligated to not just remain intact, but remain in control of the maintenance and collection of tolls on the Turnpike.

But of course, in 2019, all of that could change. The state could decide to re-bond the road, keep the tolls and use the money to fund other road projects, or at least a dozen other scenarios all being considered by the governor, the legislature and the Blue Ribbon Commission on Highways.