Virginia State Route 249

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For the former State Route 249, see State Route 249 (Virginia 1933-1952).

State Route 249

New Kent Highway

Length:

18.43 mi^[1] (29.66 km)

Formed:

early 1970s

West end:

I-64/SR 33 near Bottoms Bridge

East end:

SR 30/SR 33 at Angel View Church

Virginia Routes
< SR 247		US 250 >
Primary - Secondary - History

State Route 249 is a primary state highway in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Virginia. It is an old alignment of State Route 33 in New Kent County, running between Bottoms Bridge and Angel View Church via Talleysville and New Kent. At its west end, SR 33 overlaps Interstate 64; at its east end, SR 33 overlaps State Route 30.

Passing through New Kent Courthouse, it is locally known as the New Kent Highway. [1]

1 Major intersections
2 History
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Major intersections

interstate 64 (exit 205) and State Route 33 near Bottoms Bridge
State Route 106 near Talleysville
State Route 155 near New Kent
State Route 30 and State Route 33 at Angel View Church

[edit] History

The current SR 249 was assigned in the early 1970s to a portion of former State Route 33 in New Kent County. The western 11 miles roughly follow the old Richmond-Williamsburg Stage Road, and it currently is named New Kent Highway. (The continuation east across SR 33 as State Route 632 is still named Old Stage Road.) [2] The Old Stage Road was one of two routes heavily used by both Confederate and Union troops in 1862 during the Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War.

In the early 1970s, the new Interstate 64 was under construction east of Richmond. Although primarily following the alignment of US 60 in this area, traffic relief for other roadways was also anticipated. Nearby, SR 33 between Eltham and Quinton in New Kent County had an extraordinarily high accident rate due to heavy weekend traffic to waterfront points in eastern Virginia.

Upon partial completion, in the early 1970s, a stretch of newly-built Interstate 64 was opened early (from exit 205 to exit 220) as State Route 33 in order to divert traffic off of one of the most accident-prone portions of the former winding and hilly two-lane route through New Kent Courthouse, which was renumbered State Route 249. Although the Interstate Highway was not ready for the heavy traffic load which would come from the through traffic of US 60, Exit 220 provides no easy access to US 60, so the new usage could be anticipated to primarily appeal only to lower volume of the SR 33 traffic. Richmond newspapers at the time praised the move and credited Virginia's highway officials with preventing continued carnage on the old highway.^{[citation needed]}