U.S. Route 60 in Virginia

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U.S. Route 60
Formed:	1926
West end:	I-64/US 60 near White Sulphur Springs, WV
Major junctions:	I-81 and US 11 near Lexington US 501 in Buena Vista I-95 in Richmond US 17 in Newport News
East end:	Rudee Inlet in Virginia Beach
Virginia Routes < SR 59 SR 61 > Primary - Secondary - History

U.S. Route 60 in Virginia runs east-west through the central part of the state, generally following the Interstate 64 corridor. However, between Lexington and Richmond, I-64 is further north along U.S. Route 250, and US 60 is mostly a rural two-lane road.

[edit] Route description

In Virginia, as a through-route, U.S. 60 was largely replaced by Interstate 64. The latter is roughly parallel, although there is a separation of almost 50 miles crossing the Blue Ridge Mountains, where I-64 uses Rockfish Gap, and the crossing used by U.S. 60 remains a very hilly and treacherous section.

U.S. Route 60 enters the state near the top of the Eastern Continental Divide in the Appalachian Mountains and crosses the Great Valley through Covington, Clifton Forge, and Lexington. It runs easterly across the Blue Ridge Mountains east of Buena Vista and then through the middle belt of the state. The road is two lanes for much of its journey eastward through the state, but widens to four lanes in Powhatan County and then to six lanes through the urban parts of Chesterfield County and in most of the city of Richmond.

A hilly three-laned portion of US 60 in eastern Henrico County was infamous for many years for its center "suicide lane". East of Bottoms Bridge, Virginia, in New Kent County and western James City County, US 60 is a lightly-traveled four-lane divided highway that is sometimes used as an alternate route to the congested Interstate 64. East of Williamsburg, US 60 narrows to two lanes through the Grove Community in southeastern James City County and the Lee Hall section of Newport News, where it becomes Warwick Boulevard. US 60 crosses Hampton Roads to Norfolk via the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel, and essentially follows the southern shoreline of the Chesapeake Bay to Cape Henry and Virginia Beach, Virginia, where it terminates.

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Preceded by West Virginia

U.S. Route 60 Virginia

Succeeded by terminus