Do you remember the first time you traveled the I-64 in Hampton roads?

[Scrooloose]

I was fresh out of "A & C" schools in the Navy. I got transferred to the U.S.S. John F. Kennedy. At the time it was in the yards in Portsmouth.

I remember heading on the 64 east and looking for the U.S. 17. The funny part was I was on the 64 East and the sun was setting. lol

If you headed on the 64 west and were up early in the morning. You can see the sunrise.

I know years after that they made these small signs stating "inner" and "outer" circle or lanes. Can't remember if they still exist. The signs were sooo small if you would blink you would miss them. lol

Did this affect anyone else or was it just me? lol


/e knows he will see. "It was just you" posts.

[NE2]

no

[Takumi]

Oh sure. Every time we tried to take it back home from the Outer Banks or Virginia Beach when I was a child, when I told them to go east from (insert either VA 44 or VA 168 here), they'd always say "no, that's wrong! It goes back to the beach!" So we'd end up going west and adding an extra hour to the trip home.

[1995hoo]

"The 64"???? Do you perchance mean I-64? Nobody in Virginia says "the 64" unless they're referring to an old radio game show called the $64 Question (predecessor to a TV show of a similar name).

With that said, no. I know the first time I travelled on I-64 was when I was 4 years old on a family trip to Nags Head back before the Outer Banks were ruined by being "discovered" (we had to pay a toll on I-95 in Richmond too), but I do not remember I-64 from that trip because, well, I was four years old.

[Beltway]

March 7, 1970, on the way to watch the total eclipse of the sun, it was total on the VA Beach oceanfront.

Back then I-64 was complete on the Peninsula, and complete from US-460 at Wards Corner to Bowers Hill.  The parallel HRBT was not yet under construction, and the bridges over Willoughby Bay were not yet under construction.

[cpzilliacus]

It was sometime when a toll was still collected on the HRBT, but I don't know what year that might have been.

[cpzilliacus]

"The 64"???? Do you perchance mean I-64? Nobody in Virginia says "the 64" unless they're referring to an old radio game show called the $64 Question (predecessor to a TV show of a similar name).

LOL!  I was discussing the (pending) closure (later this summer) of the San Diego Freeway (I-405) in Los Angeles at the Sepulveda Pass (to finish tearing down the Mulholland Drive overpass) in a different forum earlier today, and realized that I did not call it "the 405" even once.

You are so right about The [Route number]. Not used in Maryland or D.C. either, though at least a few Baltimore-area traffic reporters call I-83 south of I-695 The JFX (Jones Falls Expressway).

With that said, no. I know the first time I travelled on I-64 was when I was 4 years old on a family trip to Nags Head back before the Outer Banks were ruined by being "discovered" (we had to pay a toll on I-95 in Richmond too), but I do not remember I-64 from that trip because, well, I was four years old.

I recall the tolls on the Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike (I-95 through Richmond and Petersburg and the northern tip of I-85) very well.  Less so the tolls on the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel (though I seem to recall the tolls being collected on the Hampton side of the crossing). 

Curiously, even though I have lived in Maryland my entire life, I have never been to the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  I've been to the Atlantic Ocean beaches of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, but not North Carolina. 

[74/171FAN]

What I remember from I-64 is that for some reason the drawbridge over the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River became a landmark of sorts to my dad and I.  That one reason alone had me more into it than the James at one point.

[deathtopumpkins]

First time on I-64? Not long after I was born considering I spent the first 18 years of my life in Hampton.


Though I have to ask, what the hell are you high on? Reading your post actually made my brain hurt.

Re: Seeing the sunset while traveling on 64 west... this holds true for driving west on any road. The sun sets in the west, so you see the sunset when traveling west (and vice-versa).

Re: Inner/outer, not sure what you're talking about with most of that, but I assume you're referring to the Hampton Roads Beltway signage? This was added to try to help rectify the wrong way directions on 64 around the same time directional banners were removed from all trailblazers to 64 in Chesapeake, and the beltway signage is fairly prominent, appearing at all system interchanges and reassurance markers.

[Mapmikey]

As far as I know, I-64 did not have directional banners south of Indian River Rd at any point in time.

The first solution I recall (circa 1991) for through travelers was to put colored chekerboards at the top of BGSs at decision points.  The idea was to follow the checkerboard to your destination instead of worrying about any route numbers or the fact that one of them curled around so you could be driving on a WB route into the sunrise.  The checkerboard scheme didn't last more than a handful of years.

I don't remember much about I-64 itself when I lived in Norfolk at age 4 (1974).  I do remember VA 104 and US 17 through Dismal Swamp.

Mapmikey

[agentsteel53]

The first solution I recall (circa 1991) for through travelers was to put colored chekerboards at the top of BGSs at decision points.  The idea was to follow the checkerboard to your destination instead of worrying about any route numbers or the fact that one of them curled around so you could be driving on a WB route into the sunrise.  The checkerboard scheme didn't last more than a handful of years.

I'm having trouble visualizing this.  do you have any photos?

[Alex]

Probably was on I-64 on a family trip to the Outer Banks when I was four or five. One of a couple flashbulb memories of that trip was going through the tunnel portion of the CBBT, but otherwise no recollection of Interstate 64 or any other road...

Was not on Interstate 64 again in Hampton Roads until December 2000/January 2001. A handful of old digital camera photos and photos from a camera with a roll of bad film are still found on the I-64 VA pages on AARoads. The whole banner less I-64 stretch from I-264 at VA Beach westward to I-264/664 annoyed me, especially when seeing an array of control cities. Was I-64 extended westward so that Suffolk could have their slice of a mainline Interstate? (Kingsport, TN and their rational for extending I-26 over I-181 comes to mind). The Inner/Outer Loop Beltway signs were a nice addition, but outside of road enthusiasts, I wonder how useful they are to the general public.

[Mapmikey]

I'm having trouble visualizing this.  do you have any photos?

I wasn't taking highway photos back then.  I could swear I've seen one on line somewhere but cannot find it.  It was a relatively small 2-color checkerboard placed atop of BGS signs for routes that you were supposed to follow.  If you were approaching Hampton Roads area on several main routes there would be an initial sign that says follow [pic of checkerboard] for [destination].  I want to say there were at least 3 different checkerboard schemes out there.

I wish I had taken a photo of a VDOT sign I saw on Military Hwy in 1991 near Bowers Hill that said "All in favor of conserving energy raise your right foot"

Was I-64 extended westward so that Suffolk could have their slice of a mainline Interstate?

I-64 has always ended at I-264's west end.  The control city was often Bowers Hill instead of Suffolk, which may have stemmed from Suffolk still being Nanesmond County when I-64 was built and the City of Suffolk was further away.

Mapmikey

[froggie]

"The 64"???? Do you perchance mean I-64? Nobody in Virginia says "the 64" unless...

There are enough "West Coast" sailors here to where you do hear it from time to time.  In particular, the I-64 reversible HOV lanes are commonly called "The Huv" by folks at the Navy Base.

It was sometime when a toll was still collected on the HRBT, but I don't know what year that might have been.

From opening in 1957 until it was twinned in 1976.

[Takumi]

I'm having trouble visualizing this.  do you have any photos?

I wasn't taking highway photos back then.  I could swear I've seen one on line somewhere but cannot find it.  It was a relatively small 2-color checkerboard placed atop of BGS signs for routes that you were supposed to follow.  If you were approaching Hampton Roads area on several main routes there would be an initial sign that says follow [pic of checkerboard] for [destination].  I want to say there were at least 3 different checkerboard schemes out there.

The two I definitely remember where blue-white and orange-white. I know by the time VA 168 was rerouted they had been gone a few years.

[Mapmikey]

I found a 1989 article from the Hampton Roads Daily Press that describes the checkered signs being installed and what they were for. 

http://articles.dailypress.com/1989-04-27/news/8904270060_1_signs-hampton-roads-bridge-tunnel-routes


Still no pictures I can find...


Mapmikey

[cpzilliacus]

The first solution I recall (circa 1991) for through travelers was to put colored chekerboards at the top of BGSs at decision points.  The idea was to follow the checkerboard to your destination instead of worrying about any route numbers or the fact that one of them curled around so you could be driving on a WB route into the sunrise.  The checkerboard scheme didn't last more than a handful of years.

Even though I have never been to the Outer Banks of N.C., I recall the checkerboards well.  The ones I remember were white and orange, and were located, as you say above, at various places along I-64 and I-664 (and probably some other routes in Hampton Roads as well).

[Beltway]

Even though I have never been to the Outer Banks of N.C., I recall the checkerboards well.  The ones I remember were white and orange, and were located, as you say above, at various places along I-64 and I-664 (and probably some other routes in Hampton Roads as well).

I remember them ... why were they removed?  Perhaps after the Route 168 corridor was completed to 4 lanes in 2002, so that it became the clear prime route to the OBX?

[Takumi]

^ I think that was indeed it. I may be wrong, but I remember the blue checkeerboard being for 168, and another one (maybe the orange one) as the alternate route to the Outer Banks, which was VA 104/US 17 to US 158. Once VA 168 was upgraded/rerouted, the alternate route became less important.

[amroad17]

Yes.  May 1972 during our family's move from Syracuse to Chesapeake, VA.  We came down the Eastern Shore, crossed the CBBT, then took I-64 around to the US 17/George Washington Hwy exit to our motel at the corner of Frederick and Airline Blvds.  I-64 then was also BYPASS US 13 from Northampton Blvd. to Bowers Hill.  IIRC, the speed limit on that section of I-64 was 70 mph.

[roadman65]

It was the year Busch Gardens opened, and the HRBT was only two lanes and one tunnel.  VA 168 was signed with I-64 across it and concurrent with I-64 further on westward. 

VA 199 did not exist either, so to get to Busch Gardens you had to exit at VA 143 at the time.

I-64 had exit numbers for some interchanges in Hampton, but not part of today's scheme nor the former sequential numbering.  I-64 was also not complete from east of the HRBT to one interchange west of I-564 (then part of VA 170 into the Naval Base).

There was a US 13 Bypass from Northhampton Boulevard to its eastern terminus and Military Highway was signed as US 13 Business.

[ARMOURERERIC]

My first time, the 564 interchange upgrade was in full swing.  about 3 years later I moved there, got a big trashed Victorian on Huntington Ave around 50th Street for $30K, god I miss that home.  Went in to real estate after the M&M opened, commuted to Churchland, the day the 664 opened from College to Bowers Hill, I was the second car in line at College when the police or VDOT dropped the barriers.  I still remember all the beautiful, awsesome,abandoned architecture that was in Downtown Newport News.  I had a picture on my wall from 34th and Washington from around 1983, sidewalks completely packed with shoppers downtown, by 1988, it was like a Neutron Bomb had been dropped.

[Mdcastle]

9 days from now.

[Duke87]

First and only time for me was in April of 2005. But we didn't go past 264, so I wasn't on the "backwards" part.

[hbelkins]

We were in the region when I was a kid sometime after 1967, because we were in my dad's new 1967 Chevy Impala, but I don't remember a whole lot about the trip. I know we went through southwestern Virginia and encountered a heavy downpour, and one of the oil company routing services sent us through Pound and Clintwood via US 23, VA 83 and VA 63 to hit Alt. US 58 to get to Abingdon to take I-81 north. Several sections of I-81 were not finished. We took US 460 so we could see Appomattox and then cut across the state route that connects 460 to 360, then took 360 to Richmond and went to Williamsburg. I seem to remember crossing the James River on a ferry on one trip, possibly on VA 5? We took I-64 to the HRBT and then down 168 to the Outer Banks. I think we came back along US 64, I-85 and I-40. This was when I-40 ended at Greensboro.

We made at least two other trips to the Outer Banks when I was young. On one of them I remember that we came home using US 421 from Winston-Salem and stopped at some of the attractions near Blowing Rock and Boone. Another trip involved coming back through Virginia before I-64 was finished between Richmond and Charlottesville, so we had to use US 250. And I remember my dad talking about how it took four hours to get from White Sulphur Springs to Charleston on US 60 since I-64 wasn't done in West Virginia yet.

Not sure which one of those trips was the one when I tricked my mom, who had taken over driving from my dad, to use US 70 out of Raleigh instead of US 64 so we could ride the big ferry on our way to Nags Head/Kitty Hawk.