8/1 road trip -- Southwest VA

Yesterday I went on a 850 mile, 17 hour U-turn to southwestern
Virginia...

Route - I-81; US 460; US 19; VA 80; VA 83; VA 361; VA 72; VA 71; US
58; I-81

There is nothing to report really on I-81 down to Christiansburg.

When I reached Rich Creek on US 460, I veered into town to follow the
original route to Glen Lyn via SR 806, to see the road and to also
attempt to find the wayside that used to be in the area. SR 806,
after US 219 cuts over to US 460, is 4-lane undivided. Less than a
mile, the road is barricaded off while still multilaned. So I went
back to US 460 and at Glen Lyn tried to backtrack east on the original
route which is SR 1208 on that end. About a mile in there is a
barricade on this end as well. It appears more than a mile of old US
460 is inaccessible to vehicle traffic for reasons that are a mystery
to me.

Nothing of note to report on US 460 in West Virginia. I did see a
I-73 corridor sign (handwritten...no I-73 shield).

Just after crossing back into Virginia I turned at the first light,
signed as "To VA 102". Coming from the other way on this side street
was an ancient non-cutout US 460 assembly which I assume goes back to
US 460 being routed this way in the 1970s. This side road cuts back
into West Virginia and there is no indication how to get to VA 102.
The road ends at a light...turn left and you get to VA 102 by making
no more turns.

All the VA 102 regular, interstate and triangle cutouts are still
present. I did not find any US 19-460 cutouts west of VA 102 (didn't
check to see if the ones I saw east of VA 102 last fall were still
there).

Nothing really to report on US 19-460 duplex or US 19 to Rosedale.

VA 80 north of Honaker is pretty windy and slow, but not full of
switchbacks.

The VA 63 cutout is still there in Haysi.

I drove VA 83 west to Pound from Haysi. VA 83 is very drivable
everywhere at 45 mph or more. Some of the hills are steep and you can
still get stuck behind a truck but it was a nice ride. The VA 607
shield is still there in Clintwood.

I explored VA 361 which serves Red Onion prison. The latest DeLorme
grossly distorts how it runs. The atlas has it running due south
several miles as a straight road. Actually it runs as a twisty
mountain road with a (needed) 35 mph speed limit. It appears it
follows a previously existing coal mine access road and two mines are
still accessed from VA 361 near the prison. VA 361 does cross into
Wise County; is posted at its southern end and also has an additional
reassurance northbound near the midpoint.

I doubled back on VA 83 to use VA 72. Both routes have been rebuilt
in modern times in the George Fork area. However, the original VA 114-
VA 1141 split location is still intact. VA 72 for the most part is
still very much a mountain road with sections of extreme switchbacks
leading down to Coeburn and again before Dungannon which looks like a
place that has seen a huge decline. VA 72 south of Fort Blackmore is
a modern rebuild over parts of SR 619 and SR 660 and is extremely
fast.

I drove US 58-421 over from Gate City to Bristol. In a few locations
only US 58 was posted. Otherwise it was a typical southwest Virginia
US route.

The only things to note on I-81 northbound was that the US 11-52
cutout assembly near Ft. Chiswell has been removed and replaced with a
single interstate shield (since I only saw the back of it I don't know
if it was for 77, 81 or both. Also, the BGS at the VA 8 offramp has
an SR 8 shield instead of a VA 8 shield.

New routes clinched: US 58 (21st US Route totally finished), VA 72, VA
361
New mileage for: VA 80 (Honaker to Haysi); VA 83 (Haysi to Pound
except VA 63 duplex); US 23 Bus and Byp of Pound.

With VA 361 clinched this leaves only VA 382 as the only state
facility route I have not been to yet, and the only other routes in
Virginia I haven't driven any of are VA 70 and VA 352. My unclinched
normal routes list in Virginia is down to US 23 (Norton to Ky), VA 48
(US 211 to US 340), VA 65 (all except VA 72 dup), VA 70 (all), VA 80
(north of Haysi), VA 83 (east of Grundy), VA 91 (VA 107 to VA 42), VA
352 (all) and US 421 (north of US 58 plus Bristol reroute). There are
a handful of college routes I don't feel I've driven enough to say
I've clinched - 302, 303, 314, 327.

Mapmikey
Co-curator Virginia Hwys Project
www.vahighways.com


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