West Virginia Route 480 (WV 480) is a state highway in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Known for most of its length as Kearneysville Pike, the highway extends from WV 115 in Kearneysville north to the Maryland state line at the Potomac River in Shepherdstown, from where the highway continues as Maryland Route 34 (MD 34). The route is one of the main north–south highways of northern Jefferson County and passes through the campus of Shepherd University. WV 480 was originally established in the early 1920s as West Virginia Route 48. The highway was paved in the mid-1920s, which included a different routing through Shepherdstown. WV 48's present routing through the town was established in the late 1930s when the first James Rumsey Bridge was completed; that bridge was replaced with the current bridge in the mid-2000s. WV 48 was renumbered to WV 480 in the mid-1970s after U.S. Route 48 (US 48) was established in West Virginia and Maryland.
Route description
WV 480 begins at a four-legged intersection with WV 115 (Charles Town Road) in the unincorporated village of Kearneysville. The south leg of the intersection is County Route 1 (CR 1), which heads southwest along Leetown Road through its interchange with WV 9. WV 480 heads northeast along two-lane Kearneysville Pike, which passes under CSX's Cumberland Subdivision rail line. The highway passes to the west of the historic Rose Hill Farm near Walpers Cross-Roads and by the historic home Rockland near the hamlet of Mount Pleasant. WV 480 meets the southern end of WV 45 Alt. (Potomac Farms Drive) at Morgan Grove.
WV 480 bears slightly northward as it passes the Morgan-Bedinger-Dandridge House and enters the town of Shepherdstown. The highway follows Duke Street along the west side of the Shepherdstown Historic District. WV 480 intersects German Street; the intersection forms the eastern terminus of WV 45 and the northern terminus of WV 230. North of downtown, the highway bears back slightly eastward and passes through the campus of Shepherd University, including Ram Stadium. WV 480 reaches its northern terminus at the Maryland state line on the West Virginian bank of the Potomac River. The highway crosses the Potomac River on the James Rumsey Bridge and continues as MD 34 (Shepherdstown Pike) toward Sharpsburg.
History
In its original 1922 state route system, the West Virginia State Road Commission established WV 48 along the Smithfield and Shepherdstown Road from WV 49 (later WV 9, now WV 115) at Kearneysville through Shepherdstown to the Potomac River. WV 48's routing was the same as modern WV 480 from Kearneysville to Shepherdstown; within the town, the route followed Duke Street, German Street, and Princess Street to the river, which the highway crossed on a bridge downstream from the current bridge. The road commission developed plans to improve WV 48 into an all-weather highway starting in 1922. The Shepherdstown routing was paved as concrete streets in 1924 and 1925, and the road from the town south to Kearneysville was constructed as a bituminous macadam road in 1925. The road commission and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad started planning for the highway's railroad grade separation at Kearneysville in 1929. The railroad constructed its overpass of the highway and the road commission paved the underpass and its approaches as a concrete road in 1931.