The crash happened about 11:15 a.m. in the westbound lanes of U.S. 460, just inside the Narrows town limits, according to 1st Sgt. Mike Honaker of the Virginia State Police.

Marcus Paul Kiser, 37, of Lashmeet, W.Va., was traveling west on a Suzuki motorcycle when he was struck head-on by a 1996 Dodge Stratus, Honaker said.

Kiser was passing a 1998 Ford box truck at the time, causing his bike to hit the truck, Honaker said.

Kiser was pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver of the Stratus, Mary Ann Toliver, 61, of Gap Mills, W.Va., was taken to Carilion Giles Memorial Hospital with minor injuries, he said.

The driver of the box truck, James Michael Lineberry of Radford, wasn't hurt, Honaker said.

"We believe that Toliver must have mistakenly began traveling eastbound in the westbound lanes of Route 460 when she turned from Route 219 in Rich Creek," Honaker said in a news release.

He noted that in much of the area between Narrows and Rich Creek, commonly called "the bluffs," mountainous terrain separates the eastbound and westbound lanes on the four-lane, divided highway. In some areas, he said, "the separation of the two portions of the highway is so wide you are not even able to see the parallel section of the highway.

"We are not sure if Toliver was familiar with this highway or not," he said, "but unfortunately she undoubtedly did not realize that she was not on a two-lane highway."

Toliver was not immediately charged in the crash, which is still under investigation by state police and its crash reconstruction team.

The crash closed the westbound lanes of U.S. 460 for about three hours, and westbound traffic was routed onto one eastbound lane.