US 301 in Virginia

According to itypejob, US 301 is a US Highway in the US state of Virginia. The road forms a north-south route in the eastern part of the state, from the North Carolina border south of Emporia via Petersburg and Richmond to the Potomac River Bridge, also the Maryland border. The route is double-numbered with US 1 between Petersburg and Richmond. The road is 243 kilometers long.

Travel directions

The US 301 near Dahlgren.

At the village of Dahlia, US 301 in North Carolina enters the state of Virginia from Rocky Mount and then parallels the east side of Interstate 95. You then pass through the town of Emporia, where you cross the US 58. After Emporia, US 301 runs on the west side of I-95 and runs north through flat and wooded areas. About 60 kilometers after Emporia, you reach the city of Petersburg, which with 34,000 inhabitants is an important sub-center of Richmond, which is a little further north. Interstate 85 is crossed here. Shortly thereafter, the road merges with US 1, which runs parallel to I-85. They also cross the US 460. US 1 and US 301 then begin a double-numbered route north, parallel to I-95 to Richmond.

Richmond is the capital of Virginia and the metropolitan area has more than one million inhabitants. One crosses two Richmond bypasses, State Route 288 and State Route 150. Then the road continues into downtown Richmond and crosses the James River. It crosses US 60 and Interstate 64 in downtown Richmond. It also crosses Interstate 95, after which US 301 leaves US 1 and forms a parallel route just east of US 1 and I-95 to the north. One then crosses the I-295, Richmond’s ring road.

North of Richmond, US 301 is a major secondary route and has one lane in each direction. People mainly come through small villages and no longer through larger towns. The road then crosses Fort AP Hill, a military site, and crosses US 17 on its north side at Port Royal. US 301 again has 2×2 lanes here and continues to the Governor Harry Nice Memorial Bridge, a toll bridge over the wide estuary of the Potomac River, across the street is the state of Maryland. US 301 in Maryland then continues toward Annapolis, passing east of Washington, DC.

History

The Governor Harry W. Nice Memorial Bridge, opened in 1940.

US 301 was added to the network of US Highways in 1932, ending in Petersburg at the time. In 1941 the route was extended north to Baltimore, establishing the route of US 301 through Virginia. The extension was made possible with the opening of the Nice Bridge in late 1940.

US 301 served in the early years for through traffic between Virginia and North Carolina because I-95 was not yet open. In 1955 the road between Emporia and Jarratt was already widened to 2×2 lanes. The southern section was not upgraded further later because I-95 was built right next to it. The US 301 on the double numbering with US 1 has been widened to 4 or 5 lanes because of the importance of local traffic between Petersburg and Richmond.

The biggest upgrade was on the northern part of the route. After the Nice Bridge opened in 1940, it became a realistic bypass of the Washington region, at the time the easternmost north-south link along this part of the US east coast that required no ferry services. In 1965, the northernmost section between the Rappahannock River and the Nice Bridge was widened to 2×2 lanes. In 1966, US 301 was widened between Bowling Green and US 17 to a 2×2 divided highway. Bowling Green’s bypass opened in 1969. Between Richmond and Bowling Green, US 301 has not been fully upgraded, through traffic is expected to first follow I-95 and then drive via State Route 207 from I-95 to Bowling Green. In 1972-1973, State Route 207 was also widened to 2×2 lanes for this purpose.

US 311 in Virginia

According to itypeusa, US 311 is a US Highway in the US state of Virginia. The road forms a 12-mile route in the central south of the state, near Danville.

Travel directions

US 311 in North Carolina crosses the border into Virginia near Eden . US 311 is then a two-lane highway through mostly wooded areas and runs northeast to US 58 at Bachelors Hall, just west of the town of Danville.

History

US 311 was one of the original US Highways of 1926, at the time the route ended on US 11 in Roanoke and covered a much greater distance in Virginia than it does today. In 1934, US 301 disappeared from Virginia as the route was renumbered US 220. The northern terminus was for a long time Madison, North Carolina, just across the border. In 2012, the route was extended again into Virginia, using an alternate route through Eden to US 58 west of Danville.