The Shawnee Expressway (West Virginia Route 78) is a proposed 23-mile (37 km) two-lane arterial highway. The highway, should it be constructed, will run through McDowell, Wyoming, Mercer, and Raleigh counties in southwest West Virginia. The proposed termini of the expressway will be at the Ghent interchange along Interstate 77 (West Virginia Turnpike) in the east and at the planned King Coal Highway (relocated U.S. Route 52) near Ashland.
The Shawnee Expressway was identified as a High Priority Corridor in the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA). The study area, consisting of CR 11 and CR 14 in Mercer County, and CR 16/6 and CR 16/2 in Wyoming County, features extensive no-passing zones, narrow roadway widths, non-existent shoulders, sharp horizontal curves, steep vertical grades, and substandard pavement materials for a heavy traffic load. As a result, the level of service along the routes within the study area range from B to E.