Portal:U.S. roads/Selected article/July 2012

I-470 westbound at the US 250/WV 2 three-level diamond interchange

Interstate 470 (I-470) is a 10.63-mile (17.11 km) long loop of Interstate 70 bypassing the city of Wheeling, West Virginia. The western terminus of the freeway is at an interchange with I-70 near Blaine, Ohio. Traveling southeast through rural Belmont County, the highway approaches the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Bridge carrying I-470 over the Ohio River. After crossing the river into Ohio County, West Virginia, the highway turns northeast, towards the Wheeling neighborhood of Elm Grove and its eastern terminus at I-70 near Wheeling Park. Construction began in 1975 in the two states but due to a chronic lack of funding, construction in Ohio was stalled between 1976 and 1981. By 1983, both states had completed construction on the freeway. The three-level diamond interchange with concurrent highways U.S. Route 250 (US 250) and West Virginia Route 2 (WV 2) on the eastern banks of the Ohio River was thought to be the most complex interchange in West Virginia's Interstate Highway System at the time of construction. On average, between 26,000 and 38,000 vehicles use the highway daily. During the reconstruction work on the Wheeling Tunnel, I-470 was one of two suggested detour routes to avoid the closed tunnel.

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