| Capital city | Charleston |
| Population | 1.793.716 (2020) |
| Surface | 62.809 km² |
| Governor | Jim Justice (R) |
| Member of the US since | 1863 |
West Virginia is one of the fifty states of the United States. The state is located in the east of the country. The abbreviation for West Virginia is WV. Its nickname is ‘The Mountain State’. That means ‘the Mountain State’. With 1,855,364 inhabitants, West Virginia is the 37th most populous state in the US. West Virginia borders the states of Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio and Pennsylvania. One of the neighboring states is therefore Virginia. West Virginia and Virginia used to be one big state. That was the case until the American Civil War. America then split into two, the North (Union) and the South (Confederacy). Virginia went south, but the west of the state wanted north. The Western counties split from the rest of Virginia. Then President Abraham Lincoln made these counties a separate state, West Virginia. This was never reversed after the war. The capital of West Virginia is Charleston.
Towns
There are a number of cities in West Virginia. Here are the five largest.
Largest Cities in West Virginia
| Name | Residents | County | |
| 1. | Charleston | 51.371 | Kanawha County |
| 2. | Huntington | 49.138 | Cabell County |
| 3. | Parkersburg | 31.492 | Wood County |
| 4. | Morgantown | 29.660 | Monongalia County |
| 5. | Wheeling | 28.486 | Ohio County |
How many counties in West Virginia? The State of West Virginia comprises 55 counties.
Barbour County, West Virginia
Berkeley County, West Virginia
Boone County, West Virginia
Braxton County, West Virginia
Brooke County, West Virginia
Cabell County, West Virginia
Calhoun County, West Virginia
Clay County, West Virginia
Doddridge County, West Virginia
Fayette County, West Virginia
Gilmer County, West Virginia
Grant County, West Virginia
Greenbrier County, West Virginia
Hampshire County, West Virginia
Hancock County, West Virginia
Hardy County, West Virginia
Harrison County, West Virginia
Jackson County, West Virginia
Jefferson County, West Virginia
Kanawha County, West Virginia
Lewis County, West Virginia
Lincoln County, West Virginia
Logan County, West Virginia
Marion County, West Virginia
Marshall County, West Virginia
Mason County, West Virginia
McDowell County, West Virginia
Mercer County, West Virginia
Mineral County, West Virginia
Mingo County, West Virginia
Monongalia County, West Virginia
Monroe County, West Virginia
Morgan County, West Virginia
Nicholas County, West Virginia
Ohio County, West Virginia
Pendleton County, West Virginia
Pleasants County, West Virginia
Pocahontas County, West Virginia
Preston County, West Virginia
Putnam County, West Virginia
Raleigh County, West Virginia
Randolph County, West Virginia
Ritchie County, West Virginia
Roane County, West Virginia
Summers County, West Virginia
Taylor County, West Virginia
Tucker County, West Virginia
Tyler County, West Virginia
Upshur County, West Virginia
Wayne County, West Virginia
Webster County, West Virginia
Wetzel County, West Virginia
Wirt County, West Virginia
Wood County, West Virginia
Wyoming County, West Virginia
Charleston
Charleston, West Virginia
Charleston is the capital of the US state of West Virginia. It is also the largest city in the state. 51,685 people live in Charleston.
Ohio (rivier)
The Ohio River Basin
The Ohio is a river in the United States. The Ohio flows through the states of Pennsylvania, Ohio (named after the river), West Virginia, Indiana, Kentucky, and Illinois. The river eventually empties into the Mississippi.
West Virginia Interstate 68
| I-68 | |||
| Get started | Morgantown | ||
| End | Hazelton | ||
| Length | 31 mi | ||
| Length | 50 km | ||
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Interstate 68 or I -68 is an Interstate Highway in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The highway runs from the town of Morgantown on Interstate 79 to Hazelton on the Maryland border. The route forms a through route to the east, towards Baltimore and Washington. The route in West Virginia is 50 kilometers long.
Route description
I-68 near Bruceton Mills.
I-68 in West Virginia.
On the south side of Morgantown is the interchange with Interstate 79, which runs from Charleston to Pittsburgh. Morgantown is a regional town with 29,000 inhabitants. The highway then runs in 2×2 lanes through hilly areas to the northeast. At Sunset Beach, which is far from any shore, a new highway turns into Uniontown in Pennsylvania. The highway then runs through sparsely populated areas to the east, the area is densely forested, and driving conditions here can be quite difficult in winter. The last town before the Maryland border is Hazelton, after which Interstate 68 in Maryland continues to Cumberland and towardsBaltimore.
History
Interstate 68 was not one of the original Interstate Highways of 1956, but was added as “Corridor E” of the Appalachian Development Highway System in 1965. The route was subsequently developed as US 48.
The highway was constructed in the early 1970s, with the entire West Virginia section opened to traffic for 30 miles on November 15, 1975 as a freeway between I-79 at Morgantown and the Maryland border. The highway was called the National Freeway, but was not renumbered as Interstate 68 until August 2, 1991.
Traffic intensities
33,000 vehicles drive daily at Morgantown, which drops to 15,000 at the Maryland border.
Lane Configuration
| From | Unpleasant | Lanes | Comments |
| exit 0 | Exit 29 | 2×2 |
West Virginia Interstate 70
| I-70 | |||
| Get started | wheeling | ||
| End | Valley Grove | ||
| Length | 14 mi | ||
| Length | 23 km | ||
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Interstate 70 or I -70 is an Interstate Highway in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The highway runs through a narrow strip of West Virginia, sandwiched between Ohio and Pennsylvania. In West Virginia, the highway passes through the town of Wheeling. The route is 23 kilometers long.
Travel directions
I-70 east of West Virginia.
Interstate 70 in Ohio crosses a section of the Ohio River via a short bridge, and then arrives at Wheeling Island, where part of the city of Wheeling is located. Then one crosses a second part of the Ohio River via an arch bridge and then goes directly into a tunnel. This tunnel is about 450 meters long, and one then comes through the east of the city. Wheeling has a population of about 31,000, but suburbs stretch for miles along the banks of the Ohio River. On the east side of Wheeling, Interstate 470 merges, with through traffic from Ohio rejoining I-70. Then you enter the hilly area of the first parts of the Appalachian Mountains. At Valley Grove the border is crossed withPennsylvania, continuing on Interstate 70 in Pennsylvania toward Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and Washington.
History
I-70’s predecessor was US 40, which crossed the Ohio River via the Wheeling Suspension Bridge, then crossed a low ridge in Wheeling. This was tunneled under with the construction of I-70.
Despite its short route through West Virginia, I-70 has quite a few works of art. What is special is that I-70 at Wheeling has only 1 through lane. On September 8, 1955, the Fort Henry Bridge over the Ohio River in Wheeling opened to traffic, between Wheeling and Wheeling Island. By 1963, the route east of Wheeling was more or less complete, although Interstate 70 in Pennsylvania was not yet ready. On December 7, 1966, the Wheeling Tunnel opened to traffic, followed in 1968 by the bridge over the Ohio River West Channel between Wheeling Island and Bridgeport in Ohio. In 1971, I-70 was completed through West Virginia.
trivia
I-70 in Wheeling is special because it has only 1 lane for through traffic between the Ohio River and the Wheeling Tunnel. Through traffic is signposted via Interstate 470.
Traffic intensities
About 50,000 vehicles drive daily in Wheeling. 35,000 vehicles cross the Pennsylvania border every day.
