Descending the 172/134 interchange to check out the new VA 172 extension over to Big Bethel Road.
VA 172 now ends at Big Bethel Road, which is SR 600...in York County. Not Hampton, which hasn't had secondary routes for decades. It was Elizabeth City County's secondary route 600 at some point, but since the road I was coming from was completed in 2014 there's no way this is legacy signage.
Big Bethel, now in York County and thus actually SR 600, meets VA 134, with a slightly crooked shield and a truck prohibition on SR 1776, Liberty Drive.
I turned off Big Bethel at VA 171. Note the SR 600 reassurance shield in the background. Big Bethel Road ends ahead at SR 706 (old VA 171) but the 600 number then veers off northeast and ends at the Poquoson River.
Crossing VA 134, yet again.
I took VA 171 back to US 17 in the Tabb area, where there was a construction zone.
There it is again!
Wait...could it be?
Yes, finally! I'm on VA 134 at last. It's known as Hampton Highway in York County, since it connects Hampton to the Yorktown/Tabb area. It was created as a renumbering of VA 170 during World War II and is 4 lanes for almost all of its run.
Once in Hampton, VA 134 becomes known as Magruder Boulevard, which has been its routing north of I-64 and US 258 since 1964. Before that it used Armistead Avenue north of US 258, including what's now part of VA 172 in the Langley Speedway/NASA area, then another piece of Armistead up to current VA 134 near the York/Hampton border.
South of VA 172, VA 134 meets the Hampton Roads Center Parkway at a SPUI, then continues south to I-64. Todds Lane is unposted VA 152.
After a brief run on I-64, VA 134 joins US 258 on a wrong-way concurrency to get back to Armistead.
This is the unposted north (should be east) end of VA 152. VA 134 leaves US 258 shortly after this on an unposted turn. There are, however, some 134 shields on Armistead. Did any of them turn out? Of course not!
VA 134 ends in the old section of Hampton at US 60 and VA 143, which are concurrent here, but are confined to unisigns on opposite sides of the road.
Once you're on them, they share a reassurance post.
From the 60/143 split I went to Phoebus on 143, so I could get to VA 169. That's a VA 143 Truck shield that's cut off on the right side of the photo.
VA 169 makes several turns onto itself, two of which are in the Buckroe area; this is the second of those. I meant to come back to VA 351, but I missed the turn for it.
Here's another, leaving Old Buckroe Road for Fox Hill Road.
The VA 169 South shield is an error. VA 169 used to have a strange loop setup at Buckroe Beach but I don't think the road off to the right was ever part of it.
VA 169 ends at US 258, which, since I missed being able to easily turn around to get back to VA 351, I then took back to VA 152 to get the little piece between US 60 and VA 143 I need to clinch. In Hampton it's known as Cunningham Drive and Todds Lane, while in Newport News it becomes Main Street.
Here's the Main Street piece I needed. It's also the original piece of VA 152, being added in 1946. The rest of it was added in 1981.
Into the sun again, onto the James River Bridge, which carries US 17 and 258 across the James River. (VA 32 is also part of it, but it isn't posted and may as well be dropped north of Suffolk anyway).
What do I do when I cross the river? Find out in the final part of the trip.
No comments:
Post a Comment