Virginia State Route 244

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State Route 244
Columbia Pike
Length: 8.19 mi[1][2] (13.18 km)
Formed: 1933
West end: SR 236 in Annandale
East end: SR 27 at the Pentagon
Virginia Routes
< SR 243 SR 245 >
Primary - Secondary - History - Turnpikes

State Route 244, also known as Columbia Pike, is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of Virginia. It is a four-lane road that runs from State Route 236 (Little River Turnpike) in Annandale, Fairfax County east to State Route 27 at the Pentagon in Arlington County.

Contents

[edit] History

Columbia Pike dates to 1810 when the U.S. Congress chartered a turnpike Company to build three separate roads through the newly-formed District of Columbia to outlying destinations.[3] One of these roads was to be built through a portion of the District of Columbia that had previously been part of Virginia. This portion was then known as Alexandria County, D.C. (now Arlington County, Virginia). The purpose of this road was to provide access westward from the new Long Bridge that predated the 14th Street Bridge complex to the Little River Turnpike Road, now Virginia State Route 236. The new road was built on a pre-existing cow path as the Washington Graveled Turnpike and was also known as the Washington Road, the Columbian Road, and the Arlington Turnpike.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture paved the road with concrete in 1928 from the bridge west to Palmer's Hill in Barcroft as part of an experimental testing program.

Columbia Pike was first numbered as State Route 720 in 1930 from U.S. Route 1 near the Long Bridge west for around 1 mile (1.6 km). In the 1933 renumbering, it was renumbered State Route 244 and the numbering was extended first to State Route 7 at Bailey's Crossroads and then, between 1934 and 1937, further west to its current terminus at SR 236 in Annandale. By 1944, SR 244 was truncated at the Pentagon; the piece curving away from the original alignment became a state highway in 1964.

[edit] Contemporary Columbia Pike

The road is a center for Arlington's immigrant community, with many stores, restaurants, and other businesses representing south Arlington's cultural diversity. Also, a weekly farmer's market is held each Sunday during the warmer months of the year.

Arlington County is beginning to implement a revitalization program that aims to make Columbia Pike south Arlington's "main street", while avoiding the gentrification that has occurred along the Wilson Boulevard corridor. Recent efforts by the Columbia Pike Revitalization Organization include the replacement of older traffic signals with newer and more aesthetic ones, and the addition of brick texture to crosswalks. County officials also teamed up with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority to increase mass transit service along the corridor. This new program called Pike Ride remodeled bus stops and doubled bus frequency along Columbia Pike. Additionally, the Arlington County and Fairfax County Boards of Supervisors have approved plans of bringing railed streetcars to Columbia Pike along an either a 5 or 6 mile stretch from the Pentagon to the Skyline area. [1] [2]


[edit] References

  1. ^ 2005 Virginia Department of Transportation Jurisdiction Report - Daily Traffic Volume Estimates - Fairfax CountyPDF (3.99 MiB)
  2. ^ 2005 Virginia Department of Transportation Jurisdiction Report - Daily Traffic Volume Estimates - Arlington CountyPDF (187 KiB)
  3. ^ An Act to incorporate a company for making certain turnpike roads in the District of Columbia, 2 U.S. Statutes at Large 570 (Apr. 20, 1810). Unfortunately, the date is erroneously given as 1808 in some texts, which has led to confusion. See, e.g., C.B. Rose, Jr., Arlington County, Virginia: A History, p. 76 (1976).

[edit] External links

< SR 719 District 7 State Routes
1928-1933		 SR 721 >