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presents

The Roads and Rails of Mercer County, WV /

CR 4

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Highway	Names	Start	Terminus	Length (km)
CR 4	Dunns-Bluestone Rd.	CR 2, Dunns	Summers County line, Pipestem State Park	4

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Overview

County Route 4 is a single-lane road in northern Mercer County that descends alongside Mountain Creek into the canyon of the Bluestone River.

CR 4 functions as a service road for the Mountain Creek Lodge of Pipestem Resort State Park. As such, it is neither presently a through highway, nor is it open to general traffic. Official WVDOT maps show the road with various truncations; either at the park limits, or at the last dwelling served by the road:

History

CR 4 was commissioned in 1933, and routed upon pre-existing infrastructure from the late nineteenth century. Its course in Mercer County has been unchanged since its inception.

As might be expected for a "trunk" highway with a whole number, however, it once had more significance as a vehicular road than it does now. Originally, CR 4 connected to CR 24 and CR 27 at the Summers County line. CR 24 and 27 ran along the northwest bank of the Bluestone River, connecting to WV 44 (later WV 20) at True south of Hinton.

Following the construction of the Bluestone Dam in the 1940s, the Bluestone River valley saw major changes. The downstream communities of Lilly and True were inundated. Bluestone State Park opened in 1950, followed by Pipestem Resort State Park in 1970. The course of CR 24 and 27 in Summers County was appropriated for park access roads and recreational trails...including a portion of the 8.4-kilometre River Trail, and the Bluestone Turnpike Trail connecting both parks. This left the east end of CR 4 without a through connection to other vehicular roads, relegating it to the minor status it has today.

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Fractional spur roads

Neither of CR 4's fractional spurs presently connect to their parent. Most of the original course of CR 4/2 now falls within Pipestem State Park, and functions as a hiking and mountain biking trail.

Road	Names	Start	Terminus	Length (km)	Notes
4/1	Sugar Maple Rd.	Dead end; originally CR 4 east of Dunns	CR 3/2	3	Original 1930s road with numbers assigned from west to east. Originally 10 km long. North portion now abandoned and impassable.
4/2	River Trail Rd.	Dead end; originally CR 4 in present-day Pipestem State Park	CR 44/1 west of Lerona	insignificant	Original 1930s road with numbers assigned from west to east. Originally 10 km long. North portion now impassable to traffic; forms portions of County Line Trail and River Trail in Pipestem State Park.

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