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Virginia
VTGoose:
The Southern Connector, the new route of U.S. 220 in Henry County, is dead. Funding has been shifted to a study of how to improve the existing U.S. 220.
The revised budget passed by the General Assembly changes the focus. "The study the legislature authorized will look at improving roughly 7 miles of U.S. 220 between the state line and U.S. 58 in Henry County. The study area also includes the U.S. 58/Virginia 641 interchange and the town of Ridgeway, where U.S. 220 connects with Virginia 87, according to Jason Bond, a spokesperson for the Virginia Department of Transportation."
The route of the new Southern Connector was studied two years ago. "The cost was estimated at the time at $745 million.
The Southern Environmental Law Center urged VDOT to scrap the plan, calling the project “a poor use of taxpayer dollars” and decrying its potential impacts on the environment.
An environmental impact study of the Southern Connector identified four potential minority-owned residential areas that could be affected, as well as other environmental points of concern such as noise pollution and adjacent residential properties. Report researchers also looked at seven endangered species that were in the project area and could be threatened.
That 2021 study is now largely moot, as local voices have shifted away from support for the Southern Connector."
https://cardinalnews.org/2023/09/13/plans-underway-to-improve-u-s-220-the-economic-gateway-between-southern-virginia-and-greensboro-nc/
Plutonic Panda:
A 1.9 mile section of Route 29 in Northern Virginia is getting an upgrade:
https://www.constructionequipmentguide.com/drones-aid-shirley-contracting-vdot-on-route-29-project/62522
roadman65:
What’s the deal with VA 895 being allowed? Isn’t all state primary numbers to be between 1-599 as 600 and higher are reserved for secondary designations?
Is that some sort of exception being it’s a de facto interstate connecting to I-95 that to be an x-95 has all even numbers from 2 and 4 used elsewhere and doesn’t fit for an odd x95?
amroad17:
--- Quote from: roadman65 on October 01, 2023, 09:37:52 PM ---What’s the deal with VA 895 being allowed? Isn’t all state primary numbers to be between 1-599 as 600 and higher are reserved for secondary designations?
Is that some sort of exception being it’s a de facto interstate connecting to I-95 that to be an x-95 has all even numbers from 2 and 4 used elsewhere and doesn’t fit for an odd x95?
--- End quote ---
Originally, this highway was supposed to be signed as I-895. However, Virginia used federal funds allocated for this highway to build a tolled highway. Because of this, Virginia could not sign it as an Interstate highway, so they signed this as VA 895 instead.
It is not really that big a deal that this highway is signed VA 895. It is just an anomaly from the norms many of us have become accustomed to observing in Virginia.
Mapmikey:
It would still be an exception even if it was I-895. Like I-664, I-785 (officially VA 785 currently), the two cancelled I-795s, and the VDOT-proposed I-864, it is a number >599 that is not a secondary route.
VDOT explicitly recognizes interstate designations above 599 as exceptions. See the bottom of page 2 of the 2003 route log
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