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presents

The Roads and Rails of Mercer County, WV /

CR 27

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Highway	Names	Start	Terminus	Length (km)
CR 27 (north leg)	Ingleside Rd.	WV 20 (Mercer St.), Princeton	US 460, Princeton	insignificant
CR 27 (south leg)	Ingleside Rd., Twelvemile Rd.	US 460, Princeton	I-77, Rocky Hollow	5
CR 27 (original alignment)	Ingleside Rd.	WV 20 (Mercer St.), Princeton	CR 38 (later WV 12, now 112), Ingleside	10

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Overview

County Route 27 is a road in central Mercer County. Its current configuration consists of two discontinuous segments.

Its north segment serves as an access road between downtown Princeton and US 460 Corridor Q. The south segment resumes 700 metres east, and effectively serves as a connector to I-77. Both segments are two-laned with a centre line for their entire course.

History

CR 27 was commissioned in 1933, and routed upon pre-existing infrastructure from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The course of the Virginian Railway runs parallel to the road (as well as under it, lest we forget the Oney Gap Tunnel!), and it's probable that the construction of one transportation conduit helped spur the other.

Originally, this highway served the community of Ingleside south of Princeton. This changed in the late 1960s, when the construction of Interstate 77 through Rocky Hollow obliterated the south course of the older road...and made Ingleside inaccessible to bike and pedestrian traffic. In Ingleside, a stub of CR 27 survives as CR 12/5.

Part of the north portion was obliterated by the construction of US 460 Corridor Q in 1978.

Since CR 27 no longer directly connected to Ingleside and because several similar road names were in use, WVDOT officially changed the title of "Ingleside Road" to "Twelvemile Road" in the 1990s...a reference not to road length but to Twelvemile Creek, the East River tributary that flows through Ingleside.

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The south end of CR 27 morphs into I-77. Surviving stubs of the original road include CR 12/5, and an extension of CR 34 serving as a billboard access road. (USGS, 1924/66; WVDOT, 2019.)

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Fractional spur roads

CR 27 isn't the only highway that got the short end of the I-77 and Corridor Q stick. Two of its spur roads, 27/2 and 27/4, were also obliterated by subsequent road construction.

Road	Names	Start	Terminus	Length (km)	Notes
27/1	Old Ingleside Rd., Mt. Horeb Rd., Clover Dew Dairy Rd.	CR 27 & US 460, Princeton	CR 34/1	5	Original 1930s road with numbers assigned from north to south.
27/2	(unknown name)	CR 27 south of Princeton	Rogers St., Princeton	2	Original 1930s road with numbers assigned from north to south. Decommissioned by 1945; impassable. Portions later incorporated into CR 219/12 and CR 31.
27/3	Ambrose Ln.	CR 27 south of Princeton	US 460, Princeton (originally ended at CR 219/2 via a stub now incorporated into this road)	3	Original 1930s road with numbers assigned from north to south.
27/4	Rocky Hollow Rd.	Dead end; originally CR 27 south of Princeton	CR 219/2 south of Princeton	insignificant	Original 1930s road with numbers assigned from north to south. Southern leg obliterated by I-77, late 1960s.
27/5	Dan's Rd.	Dead end; originally CR 27 south of Princeton	CR 219/2	2	Original 1930s road with numbers assigned from north to south. Truncated by I-77, late 1960s.
27/6	Oney Gap Rd.	CR 27 south of Princeton	dead end	2
27/7	(unknown name)	CR 27/3, Princeton	dead end	insignificant
27/8	(unknown)
27/9	Elmore Rd.	CR 27/3, Princeton	dead end	insignificant
27/10	Planet Dr.	CR 27/9, Princeton	HARP 902/72, Princeton	insignificant	Originally part of 219/20.
27/11	(unknown)
27/12	Golden Gate St.	CR 27/1 south of Princeton	dead end	insignificant
27/13	Meadow Field Ln.	CR 27/3, Princeton	dead end	insignificant
27/14	Deer Mtn. Dr.	CR 27/3, Princeton	dead end	2
27/15	Chickadee Ln.	CR 27/14, Princeton	dead end	insignificant
27/16	Spike Ln.	CR 27/14 south of Princeton	dead end	insignificant
27/17	Bambi Pl.	CR 27/16 south of Princeton	dead end	insignificant
27/18	Fawn Ln.	CR 27/14 south of Princeton	dead end	insignificant
27/19	Antler Ln.	CR 27/14, Princeton	CR 27/15	insignificant
27/20	Pipeline Rd.	CR 27 south of Princeton	dead end	insignificant
27/21	Brookwood Pl.	CR 27/20	dead end	insignificant

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