U.S. Route 58

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U.S. Route 58
Length:	508 mi[1] (818 km)
Formed:	1931[1]
West end:	US 25E at Cumberland Gap, TN
Major junctions:	I-81 in Bristol US 29 in Danville I-95 in Emporia
East end:	US 60 in Virginia Beach
Virginia Routes < SR 57 SR 59 > Primary - Secondary - History

U.S. Route 58 is an east-west U.S. Highway that runs for 508 miles (818 km) from U.S. Route 25E in northeast Tennessee to U.S. Route 60 in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Until 1996, when the Cumberland Gap Tunnel opened, US 58 ran only inside the state of Virginia. It was then extended southwest along a short piece of former US 25E, which no longer enters Virginia, to end at the new alignment in Tennessee.

The short section in Tennessee carries the unsigned State Route 383 designation.

The segment of highway between Emporia and Suffolk was known as 'The Suicide Strip' when it was a two lane roadway, due to the high number of fatal accidents that occurred along the roadway. The number of accidents lessened significantly when a second roadway was added, separating traffic in the early 1990's.

Contents 1 Notable cities on the route 2 US Highway 58A 3 History 4 Related U.S. routes 5 See also 6 References

[edit] Notable cities on the route

• Virginia Beach, Virginia
• Norfolk, Virginia
• Portsmouth, Virginia
• Chesapeake, Virginia
• Suffolk, Virginia
• Franklin, Virginia
• Emporia, Virginia
• Danville, Virginia
• Martinsville, Virginia (Business route only)
• Galax, Virginia
• Abingdon, Virginia
• Bristol, Virginia

[edit] US Highway 58A

An alternate route of US 58, known as US 58A, splits from the main route in Abingdon, VA and travels northwest (signed west) as the "Trail of the Lonesome Pine" to Coeburn. From there, US 58A travels in a southwesterly direction (signed west) through Norton, Big Stone Gap and Pennington Gap before rejoining the main route in Jonesville.

[edit] History

The corridor across southern Virginia was part of the initial 1918 state highway system, in which it was State Route 12. It generally followed the present US 58 from Abingdon to Virginia Beach, while present US 58 west of Abingdon was part of State Route 10. These routes deviated from present US 58 in the following places:^[2][3][4]

• SR 10 left Virginia into Kentucky at Cumberland Gap; the piece of current US 58 into Tennessee was (in general terms) State Route 107 from 1923 to 1928 and State Route 100 from 1928 to 1933 (as well as U.S. Route 25E from 1926 to 1996).
• SR 10 used present U.S. Route 58 Alternate from Jonesville to Pennington Gap asd U.S. Route 421 southeast back to US 58.
• SR 10 used present State Route 638 and State Route 600 from near Pattonsville to Clinchport.
• SR 10 used present U.S. Route 421 and U.S. Route 11 through Bristol to Abingdon. From Abingdon to Meadowview, where SR 12 began, SR 10 used present State Route 609.
• SR 12 used present State Route 80 and State Route 803 from Meadowview to Lodi and roughly present State Route 91 to Damascus.
• From Danville to Boydton, SR 12 used present State Route 360 to near Scottsburg, U.S. Route 360 to Clover, and State Route 92 to Boydton. Present US 58 was State Route 44 (formed ca. 1930) from Danville to Clarksville, and from Clarksville to Boydton it was initially part of State Route 1, renumbered State Route 31 in the 1923 renumbering, State Route 324 from soon after 1923 to 1927, part of State Route 201 from 1927 to 1928,^[5] and State Route 400 from 1928 to 1933.
• From Suffolk to Portsmouth, SR 12 used present State Route 337.

[edit] Related U.S. routes

• U.S. Highway 158
• U.S. Highway 258

[edit] See also

• Virginia Beach Boulevard

[edit] References

1. ^ ^{a b} US Highways from US 1 to US 830 Robert V. Droz
2. ^ Minutes of the First Meeting of the State Highway Commission Created Under the Acts of 1922, Held July 5th, 1922, Richmond, Va.PDF, Proposed "State Highway System" for Virginia, as Recommended by the State Roads Committee, January, 1918
3. ^ Virginia Highways Project: VA 10
4. ^ Virginia Highways Project: VA 12
5. ^ Minutes of the Meeting of the State Highway Commission of Virginia, Held Richmond, Va. October 27th, 1927PDF, page 14

		edit Main U.S. Routes
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20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38
40	41	42	43	44	45	46		48	49	50	51	52	53	54	55	56	57	58	59
60	61	62	63	64	65	66	67	68	69	70	71	72	73	74	75	76	77	78	79
80	81	82	83	84	85		87		89	90	91	92	93	94	95	96	97	98	99
101		163						400				412				425
Lists		U.S. Routes - Bannered - Divided - Replaced

< SR 11	Two‑digit State Routes 1923-1933	SR 13 >
< SR 323	Spurs of SR 32 1923-1928	SR 325 >
< SR 104	District 1 State Routes 1928-1933	SR 106 >
none	District 4 State Routes 1928-1933	SR 401 >