ABOUT THE AREA
Beckley is home to more than 17,000 people, 7,800 households and 4,400 families. The city is the eighth-largest city in West Virginia and has the infrastructure and resources to support the more than 200,000 Southern West Virginia residents and their business operations. The area’s robust interstate infrastructure is backed by exceptional and reliable air service, and dependable rail service.
HIGHWAYS
Interstate 64 travels east-west for 184 miles within the state of West Virginia, passing by the major cities of Huntington, Charleston, Beckley, and Lewisburg. I-64 crosses the Kanawha River a total of four times and connects to Interstate 77, a north-south highway, in both Charleston and Beckley. Interstate 64 east bound provides quick access to I-81 at Lexington, Virginia and west bound connects the region to Lexington, Kentucky.
Interstate 77 travels north-south for 187 miles within the state of West Virginia. The highway serves Charleston, Beckley, Bluefield, and Parkersburg. Interstate 77 enters West Virginia from Virginia through the River Mountain Tunnel and continues north towards Williamstown, where it crosses the Ohio River into Marietta, Ohio. Interstate 77 offers a direct connection southbound to Charlotte, North Carolina and Cleveland, Ohio at the northern terminus.
U.S. Route 19 (Mountaineer Expressway) is a north-south highway covering 249 miles within West Virginia. The highway enters the state in Bluefield, travelling to Beckley where it turns northeasterly and becomes an expressway-grade four-lane highway, crossing and following I-79 before crossing into Pennsylvania. The highway crosses the New River Gorge Bridge near Fayetteville and passes through Summersville and Birch River to Sutton and Flatwoods north. Ultimately, Route 19 links I-64 and I-77 to I-79 with a direct connection to Pittsburgh.
RAIL
West Virginia has a total of 2,488 miles of operating railway, servicing passenger and freight transportation needs. Amtrak passenger stations located in both Hinton and Prince provide stress free and scenic connections for the personal and business traveler to Charleston, Cincinnati, Chicago, Washington, DC and New York City. West Virginia’s two freight providers, CSX Transportation (CSXT) and Norfolk Southern (NS), move over 182,000,000 tons of freight through the state annually.
AIR
The Raleigh County Memorial Airport, located outside of Beckley on I-64 features two runways: (1) 5,000′ x 100′ and (2) 6,750′ x 150′ with land available to extend to 10,000′. This regional airport is “aviation friendly” with four wide-open approaches and no restrictions. United Airlines provides commercial passenger service with 2 flights daily to Washington, DC – Dulles (IAD). Daily cargo service is available through both FedEx and UPS.
Additionally Yeager Airport, located in the nearby Charleston offers daily service to Pittsburgh, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Chicago, Atlanta, Detroit, Cleveland, Houston and Washington, DC.
TRUCKING & SHIPPING COMPANIES
- Fed Ex Express
- Fed Ex Ground
- ESTES
- Pitt of Ohio
- Brownie’s Service
- Tri-County Delivery
- Yellow Freight
- Roadway Express
- Overland
- Hubert Jones, Inc.
- Keen Transport
ENERGY
West Virginia is a top energy producing state. A direct result of our abundant natural resources is some of the lowest overall-electricity-cost and lowest industrial-electricity-cost for companies doing business in the Mountain State. The overall electricity rate of 9.7 cents per kilowatt-hour is 80% of the national average of 12.17 cents. The state’s average industrial electricity rate of 6.28 cents per kilowatt-hour is 84% of the national average of 7.47 cents.
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
LOCATION
West Virginia is within 500 miles of more than half of the U.S. population – and a third of the Canadian population.
Interstate 64, Interstate 77 and the Mountaineer Expressway (U.S. Rt. 19) converge in Beckley, WV providing businesses located here with quick and convenient access to their customers within Southern West Virginia and throughout the Eastern United States.
