2014 Hampton Roads Meet, Part 4: More US 17 Construction

Back on VA 165, crossing US 17.


We pulled into a shopping center to take some photos. A few of us went to the grocery store in the shopping center to get some drinks.


This should be turned in the other direction. The barrier is facing the closed part of the road.


Cranes. So many cranes in Hampton Roads.


Back on the road, going over the drawbridge again.


Turning away from US 17's old alignment onto the detour. VA 166 begins here.


The next stop was the future interchange with VA 166 and Dominion Lakes Boulevard. We parked in the Dominion Lakes subdivision.


Heading to the next site, the VA 190 interchange, which will be complicated.


This little subdivision's access road will have to be reconfigured when the interchange comes into existence. There's also the matter of the nearby 17/64/168/464 mess just to the north.


More construction.


Looking out at the intersection.


The access road's most likely solution is tying into the traffic signal and 7-Eleven somehow. And look in the lower half of the picture at that equipment...it says Wacker on it. Get it? Lower Wacker?...yeah, Alanland isn't funny anymore.


Looks like there used to be an I-464 shield on that assembly.


We then took off on the road again, heading towards some different sites, which we'll see in part 5.

2014 Hampton Roads Meet, Part 3: The Meet Begins

The meet consisted of 13 attendees: myself, Froggie, Mike "Mapmikey" Roberson, Oscar Voss, Mike Tantillo, H.B. Elkins, C. Patrick Zilliacus, Brian LeBlanc, Daniel Greenstein, Laura and Mike Pruett, Michael Temme-Soifer, and Keith Thomas. After lunch we split into four cars: Froggie drove me, MTS, and Keith; Oscar drove H.B., Patrick, and Mike T; Mapmikey drove the Pruetts and Daniel; and Brian drove himself in case he had to leave early.

Leaving the restaurant, heading towards I-64 on Greenbrier Parkway.


Getting onto I-64.


And exiting.


This area of Chesapeake has been under construction on and off for years now. First, the Oak Grove Connector (VA 168) was completed, connecting the Great Bridge bypass with I-64 and rerouting US 17 down former VA 104, Dominion Boulevard. Now, US 17 is being converted to a freeway, with interchanges (heading south) at VA 190 (to be a SPUI), VA 166 (diamond), and VA 165 (SPUI). The first four stops on the tour were all related to this construction.


US 17 used to continue to the left of the hill, but construction of a new high-rise bridge over the Elizabeth River has temporarily rerouted it to the right, over VA 166's southernmost parts.


And here's some bad signage. VA 166 may as well be truncated to this intersection, because south of here US 17 follows it, and after construction is completed it'll be rerouted to hit 17 at Dominion Lakes (which we'll see later).


Despite the span wires and silos, we're still in the suburbs.


Arriving at the first stop, the bridge construction. US 17 currently uses a drawbridge.


Froggie's Tiguan, Oscar's Prius, Brian's Civic, and Mapmikey's Saturn Aura.


The bridge was opening, so we watched. Traffic backed up quickly.


Back on the road, going over the bridge to the next site.


12-8-8 signal means old.


After the bridge is the future interchange with VA 165.


For the next stop, we turned into a neighborhood off VA 165 to take pictures. Two houses were demolished as part of the construction.


The mailbox and driveway entrance from one of the destroyed houses were still present.


After this we got back on the road and went to another vantage point of the same construction. I'll pick up there in part 4.

2014 Hampton Roads Meet, Part 2: Temporary Clinching

I headed east (signed northbound)on US 258 and VA 32 between Benns Church and Carrollton, heading towards US 17.


US 17 had more traffic than the roads that preceded it on my journey.


At least until I got to the bridge over the Elizabeth Nansemond River.


From US 17 I got onto one of my favorite roads, VA 164. There's some construction going on near its current east end. It was on the meet itinerary, so I didn't get many pictures of it.


Some terminals. I'm now in Portsmouth.


VA 164 currently ends at this interchange with US 58. Once the Martin Luther King Freeway expansion project is complete, it will be extended to I-264.


After the MLK Freeway ends, there's a detour for VA 141, whose exit was part of the construction. My original plan was to take VA 337 Alternate (hereafter abbreviated to 337A), which is also in the area, but it was closed south of US 17, so I had to take a detour.


Old shields, including a state-name I-264.


Back on 337A. I didn't officially clinch it until later.


After a couple wrong turns at the end of 337A, I ended up back on US 17, heading in the right direction. Here I'm passing VA 239.


Up next was a route I could actually clinch without any hassles, VA 196.


Oops. This was about the only thing noteworthy on the route.


VA 196 is short, ending at US 13/460, Military Highway. This is the original bypass route of south Hampton Roads, dating back to World War II.


US 13 uses the Gilmerton Bridge over the Elizabeth River. The Gilmerton is a drawbridge that's being reworked, seeing closures overnight during the week. It's still my favorite Elizabeth River crossing in this section of Hampton Roads.


After crossing the Gilmerton, I continued on Military Highway to I-464, then I-64 to the Greenbrier Parkway exit, off which the meet was located. I met the other attendees and had lunch in an excellent restaurant called Kelly's Tavern. I'll pick up with the meet tour in part 3.