West Virginia Code Chapter 17. Roads and Highways § 17-4-5. Right of eminent domain

The state road commissioner, or the state road commission may acquire by right of eminent domain any land or water, or any interest therein or any rights, ways, or easements thereon or thereover, for the purpose of constructing, widening, straightening, grading, or altering any state road, or for the purposes enumerated in section twenty-five of this article, or to provide a detour or temporary road or bridge while a road is in the process of construction, reconstruction, improvement, or repair, or for any other purposes authorized by any provision of this chapter, whenever a just compensation cannot be agreed upon by the owner or claimant of such property, for such taking, use, or damage.

The state road commissioner, or the state road commission, for any of the purposes aforesaid may likewise acquire by eminent domain any bridge or bridge site across any stream separating this State from an adjoining state, any portion thereof, or the approaches thereto, or any interest, franchise, right, or privilege in the same, whether the same be owned and operated by a bridge company, a railroad or electric company, or other railway, or other utility, or any other person, firm, or corporation, such right to be exercised to provide either for a permanent title, ownership, use, or easement thereon or thereover, or for a temporary use and easement thereon or thereover as a detour, or temporary road or bridge; and such rights may be acquired subject to the use by any railroad or electric company, or other railway or utility, or under such reasonable regulation as to such use as the court may prescribe. The state road commission may also exercise in any adjoining state such powers of eminent domain for any of the purposes aforesaid, whether such powers are now conferred or may be hereafter conferred upon the commission by any act of Congress of the United States, if such act of Congress be necessary for the exercise of such powers. Title to property condemned in any adjoining state may be taken either in the name of the State or of the state road commission.

The proceedings for the purposes aforesaid may be instituted in the name of the commissioner, or the state road commission, either at law or in equity, and prosecuted and determined as provided in chapter fifty-four.