Twisty Road - West Virginia State Route 72 -

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WV-20 Interactive Route Map with Photo Points - Double-Click map to expand

Interactive Route Map with Photo Points - Click to expand

West Virginia
State Route 72

A short, very twisty, narrow, poorly paved backway in North-central West Virginia. That this is designated as a major state highway is a little surprising.

Section Covered:
Hambleton, WV to Dryfork, WV

Length:
27km / 17mi

Ratings:		Rankings:
Scenic Impact	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10	Overall Score: 5.6
Twistiness	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10	Fun-to-Drive: 7.2
Surface Quality	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Traffic	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10	Rankings and ratings explained

West Virginia route 72 -- at least the stretch from Hambleton to Dryfork -- is a strange little highway. Effectively it is only one and one-half lanes wide. It winds through steeply hilly Appalachian Plateau countryside, frequently traversing along steeply wooded ravine slopes. There are many blind turns, where it is not a bad idea to honk in order give a signal to oncoming traffic.

Like a backroad in Europe

Pavement quality? Poor pretty much sums it up. In places it is just ok - chip-sealed and a bit of gravel. In other places it is worse: full of pavement patches, some of which have eroded away and left spots of dirt or even potholes. Some turns have a moderate amount of gravel in them. The road goes by some pretty rustic looking farm-yards, too -- which you'll also strongly smell.

This 'highway' is indeed quite twisty, and in it's own way, it is a neat kind of road with a very different character than most highways. However, it is probably not a good idea to try and go too fast on this road -- 35 mph is pretty much a reasonable top speed, I think. (I'm not sure what the speed limit is - I can't recall).

WV-20 Interactive Route Map with Photo Points - Double-Click map to expand

Interactive Route Map with Photo Points - Click to expand

Route Data - WV-72, Hambleton to Dryfork

Start Time: 6:25p.m.

End Time: 6:55p.m.

Duration: 0h29m

Distance: 27.67 km (17.2 mi)

Average Speed: 57.3 km/hr (35.6 mph)

Start Elevation: 1796ft (547m) *

Max Elevation: 2868ft (874m) *

Min Elevation: 1727ft (526m) *

End Elevation: 2811ft (857m) *