U.S. Route 52 in West Virginia - Tolsia Highway

The Tolsia Highway is defined as running from Interstate 64 at Kenova to Corridor G (US 119) north of Williamson. Portions of the 66-mile (106 km) highway have been completed. In 1998, US 52 south of the Interstate 64 interchange in Kenova was upgraded to four-lane highway standards to the Tri-State Airport Access Road. In 2001, the four-lane highway was extended southward approximately two miles to a stub interchange with West Virginia Route 75, removing a steep downgrade with a large sweeping curve.

Also in 1998, the Prichard, West Virginia bypass was opened to traffic with one interchange and one at-grade intersection. This four-mile (6 km) bypass includes very large rock cuts and a long and winding grade down a hill. In 2001, the four-lane highway was extended northward for one mile (1.6 km), removing some grades and curves along US 52. The extension was completed in 2002 at a cost of $9,613,889.26. New signage was installed in late 2002 to replace orange construction signs that date to the construction of the bypass.

Before the eastern bypass was built, US 52 inside Prichard involved two alignments. U.S. 52 originally took the path of West Virginia Route 152, approximately 10 miles (16 km) east of the current alignment. In the mid 1960s, state funding was secured to upgrade most of county route 1, which ran along the Big Sandy River and Tug Fork River. The upgraded county route 1 was renumbered as US 52 in 1979. A western bypass of Prichard was constructed in the mid 1970s and partially abandoned in 1999, when the new four-lane alignment east of the community was constructed.

In 2001, the Crum segment of the Tolsia Highway opened to traffic. The highway begins just north of Crum, touching down at an incomplete diamond interchange with US 52 and heads eastward towards county route 2. It has at-grade intersections with county route 52-47 and county route 52-31 along with a side road at the eastern terminus that takes traffic to county route 2. There are stubs for future bridges and ramps. Signage along this segment is minimal, with only a handful of arrows to designate the route. While the highway was built to four-lane standards, it is only striped for two.

In late 2002, Senator Robert C. Byrd received $20 million in funds to jump-start construction on the northern half of the King Coal Highway. The money would be used to speed up construction on the 10-mile (16 km) link between Huntington and Prichard, serving several industrial parks and relieving two-lane US 52 of coal-truck congestion.

In 2003, survey and design of five miles (8 km) of four-lane US 52 upgrades from Prichard north to Cyrus were completed. This includes an interchange and five bridge structures. Estimated cost of construction is $90 million.

Total design work for 2003-2004 on the Tolsia Highway totals over 18 miles (29 km).

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