U.S. Route 119

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U.S. Route 119
Length: 585 mi[1] (941 km)
Formed: 1926[1]
South end: US 25E in Pineville, KY
Major
junctions:
I-77/I-64 in Charleston, WV
US 33 from Buckhannon to Spencer, WV
I-79 near Weston, WV
I-68 at Morgantown, WV
PA 43 in Uniontown, PA
US 40 in Uniontown, PA
PA 51 near Uniontown, PA
I-70/I-76/PA Tpk in New Stanton, PA
North end: US 219 in Sandy Township, PA
United States Numbered Highways
Spur of US 19
List - Bannered - Divided - Replaced

U.S. Route 119, commonly abbreviated as US 119, is a spur of US 19. It is a north-south route that was an original United States highway of 1926. It is often referred to as Corridor G east of US 23 and KY 80 in Kentucky to Interstate 64 at Charleston, West Virginia.

Contents

[edit] Route description

[edit] Kentucky

See also: Corridor F
See also: Corridor B
See also: Corridor G

US 119 is a two and four-lane highway running from Pineville at US 25 (Daniel Boone Parkway) to the West Virginia state line at South Williamson.

From Pineville to US 23 (Country Music Highway) at Jenkins, it is part of Corridor F. During its concurrency from Jenkins north to Pikeville, where it departs eastward towards West Virginia, it is part of Corridor B. From US 23/KY 80 at Pikeville eastward towards the state line, it is part of Corridor G.

US 119 passes near Harlan and Pikeville.

[edit] West Virginia

See also: Corridor G and Corridor H

US 119 enters from Kentucky via Corridor G, a four-lane limited-access highway stretching from Williamson to Charleston. The earliest segment of Corridor G to open was in 1972 and was finished in 1997. Formerly, US 119 was a typical two-lane mountain highway. Old US 119 now comprises all or parts of US 52, WV 44, WV 10, WV 17, WV 85, WV 3, WV 94 and WV 61.

The US route becomes a mostly two-lane highway north of Charleston, having functionally been replaced by Interstate 79. Compared to its replacement, US 119 takes a rather winding course. A trip from the Charleston area to the Morgantown area (I-79/US 119 Exit #1 to I-68 Exit #1) is 147 miles (237 km) via I-79 and 182 miles (293 km) via US 119. The travel time is about double taking US 119, over 4 hours instead of about 2 hours.

From Charleston, US 119 heads roughly east along the Elk River to Clendenin, where it turns north for 29 miles (47 km) to Spencer. At Spencer, it begins to head east with US 33 for 81.4 miles (131.0 km). Along the way, it passes through Glenville and Weston, where it intersects parent route US 19 and replacement I-79. From I-79 to WV 20 at Buckhannon, US 33/US 119 follow Corridor H.

At Buckhannon, US 119 again turns north - first with WV 20 then by itself as it travels to Philippi. At Philippi it joins with US 250 for 12 miles (19 km). From there, US 119 heads on its own through Grafton and towards Morgantown.

Just south of Morgantown, US 119 intersects Interstate 68's Exit #1, immediately east of its end at I-79. US 119 then enters downtown Morgantown, again meeting with US 19. It leaves town via the narrow and winding North Willey Street and congested Mileground.

Just after the Mileground, US 119 intersects with the Monongalia County Route 857 connector to I-68 Exit #7, which effectively allows through traffic to bypass Morgantown. US 119 finally turns north to enter Pennsylvania near Point Marion. Much of this last stretch of US 119 heading towards Uniontown, Pennsylvania is already bypassed by traffic using I-68, Monongalia County Route 857 and PA 857. While this alternate route is longer, it has a better alignment and is faster to travel. This phenomenon of through traffic leaving US 119 will likely accelerate once the Mon-Fayette Expressway is complete.

[edit] Pennsylvania

US 119 travels through Connellsville, Greensburg, and Punxsutawney, and bypasses Uniontown and Indiana. There are numerous other boroughs and villages along its 133 mile route in the Keystone State.

The southern entrance of US 119 is at the West Virginia state line one-half mile south of Point Marion. The northern terminus is at US 219 two miles south of DuBois, Pennsylvania.

US 119's control cities include Morgantown, West Virginia, Uniontown, Connellsville, New Stanton (for northbound traffic only), Greensburg, Blairsville, Indiana, Punxsutawney, and DuBois.

US 119 is in the National Highway System from the West Virginia state line to Exit 0 of PA Turnpike 66, and from US 22 to US 219. From US 22 to US 219, the highway carries the name of the Buffalo-Pittsburgh Highway; from US 22 to PA 56, it is also known as the Patrick J. Stapleton Highway; near Uniontown, it bears the name George C. Marshall Parkway.

Concurrencies along the route include PA 43 from Chadville to US 40; US 40 from the Hopwood interchange to Main Street, Uniontown; Truck PA 711 from Connellsville to North Connellsville; PA 819 from the borough of South Greensburg to the City of Greensburg; Business PA 66 from US 30 in South Greensburg to Greensburg; PA 130 in Greensburg; US 22 from Shieldsburg to two miles east of Blairsville; PA 56 from Homer City to US 422; Business US 422 from the Wayne Avenue interchange to the US 422 interchange; Truck PA 286 from US 422 to PA 286; and PA 36 in Punxsutawney.

[edit] History

[edit] Kentucky

[edit] West Virginia

The routing of US 119 south of Charleston changed drastically with the opening of Corridor G from 1972 to 1997.

The original routing southeast of capital city was WV 61 to Marmet, where it took WV 94 southwest to Racine [2]. From Racine to Danville, it followed today's WV 3 and onward to Madison. From Madison south to Logan, it followed today's WV 17.

South of Logan to Mountain View, it followed WV 44. At Mountain View, it junctioned US 52 and overlapped it northwest to Williamson, where it entered Kentucky.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b US Highways from US 1 to US 830 Robert V. Droz
  2. ^ Rand McNally. Atlas. 1970.


Main U.S. Routes
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20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38
40 41 42 43 44 45 46 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59
60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79
80 81 82 83 84 85 87 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99
101 400 412 425
Lists  U.S. Routes - Bannered - Divided - Bypassed - Portal
Browse numbered routes
< KY 118 KY KY 120 >
< WV 115 WV US 121 >
< PA 118 PA PA 120 >