Virginia State Route 168
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| State Route 168 |
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| Length: | 30.11 mi[1] (48.46 km) | ||||||||||||
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| Formed: | 1933 | ||||||||||||
| South end: |  NC 168 near Moyock, NC |
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| Major junctions: |
  I-64/I-464 in Chesapeake I-264 in Norfolk |
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| North end: |  US 60 in Norfolk |
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State Route 168 is a primary state highway in the South Hampton Roads region of the U.S. state of Virginia. It runs from the border with North Carolina (where it continues as North Carolina Highway 168 towards the Outer Banks) through the independent cities of Chesapeake and Norfolk where it ends in the Ocean View area near the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel.
SR 168 consists of three sections with different characteristics. From North Carolina to the junction with Interstate 64 and Interstate 464, SR 168 is mostly built to freeway standards as a major road into North Carolina; part of it - the Chesapeake Expressway - is a toll road. From I-64 north into downtown Norfolk, SR 168 is a local road; I-464 carries most through traffic. The rest of SR 168, from downtown Norfolk north to Ocean View, is Tidewater Drive, an arterial road with some interchanges, built to carry traffic to the Bridge-Tunnel before Interstate 64 opened.
SR 168 was originally constructed on the north side of Hampton Roads, mainly as a bypass of U.S. Route 60 from Newport News past Williambsburg (now State Route 143). It was extended across Hampton Roads (via the Newport News Ferry) in the mid-1940s, but did not move onto its current alignment to North Carolina until 1957, when the Bridge-Tunnel opened. As the new freeway (Interstate 64) opened past Williamsburg, SR 168 was shifted to it; it was truncated to its current extent around 1980.
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[edit] Predecessor to Interstate Highway System
Route 168 was part of a system of state-funded highway improvements after World War II which preceded the federally funded Interstate Highway System in Virginia. It provided substantial traffic relief to a number of heavily traveled older U.S. highways, notably including U.S. Route 60 on the Virginia Peninsula and U.S. Route 460 in the Cities of Norfolk and South Norfolk and U.S. Route 17 in Norfolk County (now City of Chesapeake) in South Hampton Roads.
[edit] North Carolina to Willoughby Spit
In Chesapeake, the route originally ran along Battlefield Boulevard. This arterial is now bypassed by several roads: the Chesapeake Expressway (a toll road completed in 2001), the Great Bridge Bypass (a bypass route constructed in 1980 and improved through the 1990s), and the Oak Grove Connector (a link from the Great Bridge Bypass to Interstate 464 completed in 1999). From the north end of the Oak Grove Connector, Route 168 is multiplexed (routed along with) Interstate 64 until it rejoins Battlefield Boulevard. The section of the boulevard bypassed by the mentioned roads are now designated State Route 168 Business.
From I-64 in Chesapeake, Route 168 follows several roads until it crosses into the City of Norfolk and eventually runs along Tidewater Drive (following the path of the earlier Cottage Toll Road) until reaching its terminus at East Ocean View Avenue (U.S. Route 60) near Fourth View Street in the Willoughby Spit area.
[edit] Crossing the mouth of Hampton Roads
The Route 168 designation formerly continued northwesterly along East Ocean View Avenue and crossed the Hampton Roads Ferry System from Willoughby Bay to Old Point Comfort in the Town of Phoebus in Elizabeth City County (now part of the City of Hampton). The Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel originally carried the VA-168 designation when it was completed in 1957 (as a toll facility). The Route 168 signage and tolls were both removed when the crossing was expanded in 1976 as part of the federally funded Interstate 64 improvements.
[edit] On the Virginia Peninsula
The SR 168 designation also formerly applied to a routing on the Virginia Peninsula from Anderson's Corner near Toano west of Williamsburg to the Hampton Roads Ferry landing at Old Point Comfort. The road was a major additional highway which was built in the years prior to the creation of the Interstate Highway System, and was replaced as a major through route by Interstate 64, in segments as that new road was completed.
Small portions of the roadway on the Peninsula originally signed at SR 168 became portions of State Route 30 and Interstate 64. However, most of it was resigned as State Route 143, which continues to serve as an alternative to U.S. Route 60 for most of its length. After Interstate 64 was completed on the Peninsula, both Routes 60 and 143 with many at-grade intersections and businesses became more major conduits for local traffic than through-traffic routes.
[edit] History
The SR 168 designation was applied in the 1933 renumbering to three individual roadways: State Route 529 (northwest from Newport News towards Lee Hall), State Route 532 (Newport News to Hampton via Shell Road), and State Route 533 (King Street from Rip Rap Road - then State Route 513 - south into Hampton). Another piece, from Hampton east on Pembroke Avenue towards Buckroe Beach, was added to the state highway system in 1932,[2] and was extended to Buckroe Beach in 1936.[3] In the 1930s, SR 168 was extended northwest to State Route 53 (now State Route 30 near Barhamsville. It used Jefferson Avenue and 35th Street in Newport News and Shell Road, Newport News Avenue, Back River Road, Rip Rap Road, King Street, and Pembroke Avenue in Hampton; see State Route 143 (Barhamsville to Hampton) and State Route 351 (Hampton to Buckroe Beach) for more history.
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