I overheard a discussion at Snowshoe this past weekend that there is some kind of new connector road being built, or two roads that pass near each other being connected, which would cut the DC->Snowshoe drive town down to around 3 hours in good weather/traffic? Anything to this? Or was it just wishful thinking? I didn't get details about which roads were involved, other than it was one of the local WV roads that were being improved to connect Snowshoe more directly to I-81 and/or I-64.

Welcome to DCSki schtool. Tell us a bit about yourself. Where you live, ski or board, age, etc.
Again, welcome!
The Colonel

I haven't heard about anything between I-81 and Snowshoe, and any improvements between I-64 and Snowshoe sure ain't going to cut the drive down to 3 hours. You'd add at least 1+ hour by using 64 (west of I-81) to get there from DC. So my guess is that it's some other road project if what you overheard is true.

Was it possibly Corridor-H? When (if) complete, it would provide a quicker route to Elkins from DC, and that might make for quicker access down 219 to Snowshoe. Hard to say. Maybe other folks will know the answer.

Regardless, I would be real surprised if the drive got down to 3 hours -- that doesn't seem physically possible.

I'm unaware of any other route or potential route to make it quicker. The quickest is 3.5 hours from my home in southern Culpeper via the 33 to 28 to 66 route. That new entrance off 66 cuts time off the total trip but that's old news. Short of digging a couple of very long tunnels, there is no straight line from 81 to the shoe, and never will be in my lifetime.

i bet they were talking about cooridor-H. but even when its finished (like 2013 probably) you still couldnt make it from DC to snowshoe in 3hrs. maybe 3hrs from the I66/I81 merge? itll basically just make the drive from I-81/strasburg to Elkins a little more than 100 miles.

The quickest I have made it to Snowshoe is 3 hours and 50 minutes for the 222 mile treck from U and 14th Streets NW, DC, to Summit Condos at Snowshoe. I will say that Corridor H from Wardensville to Moorefield has significantly cut the time, allowing a less-than four hour trek.

Of course, I always stop at the Coyote Coffee House in Wardensville for a soy cappuccino, baguettes and my organic necessities, so 4:15 is a better estimate...

Thanks, Colonel! I live in Central Florida, and recently purchased some land as a potential future homesite just off-mountain in Snowshoe, so have been looking at the fastest way to get there from here. I am a snowboarder, and my wife and I really liked the snow and wintery wonderland that our 5 years on the west coast afforded (in Tahoe and Colorado). I am 33 yo.

So I want to know the fastest way to get Snowsnoe from here is, within reasonable cost limits. Driving is 13 hours (and associated fuel costs). Flying, I can get direct to all DC area airports, and to Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh appears to be the closest in terms of drive time. Then there's the rental car cost, but I can manage that. I just want to know what my options are in case I have to babysit the construction of a home.

We considered west coast, but really want something we can drive to if necessary (esp. when stocking a house with goodies), and Snowshoe turned out to be really nice last weekend (and from asking around, it didn't appear that we just "got lucky" as far as conditions went).

Yeah, "Corridor H" sounds correct! I found the site for this work, and yeah, I don't see how it could make a 3 hr trip to Snowshoe possible. from DC. Oh well. Even at 4 hours (plus a 2 hour plane ride from Orlando), it's better than 13 hours in the car

schtool, whereabouts did you get some land? That is a beautiful area to build a house -- I wouldn't mind doing it someday.