State highways in Virginia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Virginia state highways |
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Primary - Secondary - History Renumberings: 1928 - 1933 - 1940 |
   Primary and secondary State Route shields
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| State: | State Route X (SR X) or Virginia Route X (VA X) |
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| Interstates: | Interstate X (I-X) |
| US Routes: | U.S. Route X (US X) |
| Notes: | Outside cities and a few counties, every road is state-maintained. These roads are split into primary and secondary State Routes, and receive different levels of funding. Inside cities, most primary State Routes are locally maintained. |
The state highway system of the U.S. state of Virginia is a network of roads maintained by the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT). As of 2006, VDOT maintains 57,867 miles (93,128 km) of state highways[1] the third largest system in the United States.[2]
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[edit] Interstate and primary highways
Interstate Highways, totaling 1118 miles (1799 km) in Virginia,[1] are freeways designated by the Federal Highway Administration and numbered by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. They are in a special class with respect to federal funding. These Interstate Highways are as follows:
- I-64: I-264, I-464, I-564, I-664
- I-66
- I-73 and I-74 (both proposed)
- I-77
- I-81: I-381, I-581
- I-85: I-785 (proposed)
- I-95: I-195, I-295, I-395, I-495
Primary highways, totaling 8111 miles (13,053 km),[1] consist of U.S. Routes, designated and numbered by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, and primary State Routes, designated and numbered by VDOT. Alternate, business, and bypass bannered routes, as well as wye connections (with a "Y" suffix appended to the number), are all considired primary routes.[3]
Primary routes are generally given numbers under 600. The two exceptions - State Route 785 and State Route 895 - are numbered as Interstate Highway spurs.
Roadways at many of Virginia's state institutions, such as state universities and colleges, correctional facilities, and state police headquarters, also receive primary highway designations. For example, all of the roadways within Virginia Tech's campus carry the single designation State Route 314. These roadways may or may not be signed.
Other than limited access roads, most primary routes inside Virginia's independent cities are not maintained by the state, but by the city with state aid. Some towns also choose to maintain their own streets (see below).
[edit] Secondary highways
Virginia has 48,305 miles (77,739 km) of secondary routes.[1] These roads, numbered 600 and up, receive less funding than primary routes. Numbers are only unique within each county, and routes that cross county lines generally keep their numbers.
Secondary routes range from major routes like the Fairfax County Parkway (State Route 7100) to suburban culs-de-sac. The system was formed in 1932, when the financial pressures of the Great Depression prompted the state to take over most county roads. Only Arlington and Henrico Counties continue to maintain their own roads; on the other hand, the state still maintained secondary routes in the former Nansemond County, now the city of Suffolk, until July 1, 2006.[4][5]
Roadways on public (K-12) school campuses are also secondary routes and are numbered in the 9000 - 9999 range. Unlike other secondary routes, these do not duplicate within the state and are often unsigned.
In most of Virginia's towns, all streets are maintained by VDOT as primary or secondary routes. Those that maintain their own streets, including most primary routes, are as follows: Abingdon, Ashland, Big Stone Gap, Blacksburg, Blackstone, Bluefield, Bridgewater, Christiansburg, Clifton Forge, Culpeper, Farmville, Front Royal, Herndon, Lebanon, Leesburg, Luray, Marion, Orange, Pulaski, Richlands, Rocky Mount, South Boston, South Hill, Tazewell, Vienna, Vinton, Warrenton, Wise, Wytheville
In the following towns, all primary routes are maintained by the state, but other streets are town-maintained: Altavista, Chase City, Chincoteague, Dumfries, Elkton, Grottoes, Narrows, Pearisburg, Saltville, Smithfield, Strasburg, Woodstock
For internal record keeping, such as the tabulation of traffic counts, VDOT disambiguates between counties by prefixing the county unit of VDOT that maintains it; for example, State Route 611 in Fairfax County is labeled SR 29-611. Also, secondary route numbers are assigned to some roads not maintained by the state, such as city and town roads and roads in Arlington and Henrico counties.
[edit] Frontage roads
Frontage roads total 333 miles (536 km)[1] and are numbered on a statewide system. The numbers bear an F prefix (e.g., State Route F-1000 off of State Route 7 in Loudoun County).
[edit] Other roads
Roads in Virginia other than state highways include the following.
Cities and towns maintain 10,561 (16,996 km) miles of urban streets with the help of state funds.[1] Most towns contract street maintenance to the VDOT, in which case the streets have T-prefixed numbers.
As noted above, two counties in the state maintain their own roads: Arlington County (359 miles - 578 km) and Henrico County (1279 miles - 2058 km).[1]
Virginia includes 51.12 miles (82.27 km) of toll roads maintained by other entities, typically through public-private partnerships. These are the Boulevard Bridge, Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, Chesapeake Expressway, Dulles Greenway, and Jordan Bridge.[6]
In addition, the U.S. Government maintains 382.99 miles (616.36 km) of numbered routes and other major roads in Virginia; the ones without normal numbers are assigned special unsigned numbers. The National Park Service maintains several parkways - the Blue Ridge Parkway (SR 48), Colonial Parkway (SR 90003), George Washington Memorial Parkway (SR 90005), and Skyline Drive (SR 48). The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers maintains State Route 4 over the John H. Kerr Dam and State Route 143 in Fort Monroe, and the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority owns the Dulles Access Road (SR 90004).[7]
[edit] Signage
The markers for primary routes show the route number in a rounded shield shape, while those for secondary roads and frontage roads use a circular highway shield. A separate series of signs, posted at intersections, shows the route number on a small rectangular strip and does not distinguish among the various types of highways except by using the F prefix for frontage roads or the T prefix for state-maintained town roads (where they exist).
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f g About VDOT: Virginia's Highway System, accessed September 23, 2006
- ^ VDOT Bulletin, May-June 2006, Highway and Road Networks
- ^ Virginia Route IndexPDF, revised July 1, 2003
- ^ Aaron Applegate, VDOT, city of Suffolk battle over closed Kings Highway Bridge, The Virginian-Pilot, May 1, 2006
- ^ John Warren, Flooding blamed on clogged ditches, The Virginian-Pilot, July 11, 2006
- ^ 2005 Virginia Department of Transportation Jurisdiction Report - Daily Traffic Volume Estimates - Other / TollPDF
- ^ 2005 Virginia Department of Transportation Jurisdiction Report - Daily Traffic Volume Estimates - United StatesPDF
[edit] External links
- Road Signs of Virginia
- Virginia Highway Endpoints
- Virginia Highways Project
- AARoads Virginia Highways Page
| Numbered highways in the United States | |
|---|---|
| National systems | Interstate Highways | U.S. Routes |
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