Why do almost all the streets in Fairfax County, VA have a state road number?

[Mapmikey]

Buchanan County has roads that are numbered separate from the 600-series and are maintained by the county.

Are they signed at all?

yes...at least 10 years ago they were.  GMSV of today shows a lot of postings gone but here is CR 5417 - https://goo.gl/maps/tYs4pVg6inPq65md8

Here's a better posting still up - https://goo.gl/maps/CzPGSqaHWLW3Se3U9

Google Maps does label some of them.

I misremembered regarding I-295 in Henrico County.  Woodman Rd was posted with SR reassurance markers each way leaving I-295.  Postings were removed before the GMSV era.

[plain]

I misremembered regarding I-295 in Henrico County.  Woodman Rd was posted with SR reassurance markers each way leaving I-295.  Postings were removed before the GMSV era.

I don't remember them on Woodman, but Nuckols Rd definitely had them (posted as SR 695).

Chesterfield County in particular has been planning a great deal of road diet projects recently, which is aggravating as some of the roads affected are major connectors (SR 650 between US 60 and US 360 was recently downgraded to 2 lanes).

Huh??? Didn't even know this until now. I used to love using Turner Rd as a cut through to avoid that parallel part of Chippenham (ESPECIALLY during rush hour) but it's been a few years since I used it. Wonder what made them take away the lane?

[plain]

Also the recent talk, which has quieted down after a flurry of discussion a few years ago, about Fairfax County's board of supervisors exploring the idea of the county becoming an independent city. To be sure, their interest isn't really roads, but rather the ability to impose certain taxes the independent cities are allowed to impose that counties are not so as to have more money for the school system and the like. A downside, to most of us who live in Fairfax County who are aware of these issues, is that the county would become responsible for road maintenance, which in turn would suck up most of those taxes they want to impose unless they just let the roads deteriorate. I find it hard to see much benefit to the proposal.

Being that there is already an independent city called Fairfax, what would the county be called? Or would the existing city just annex the county somehow?

[1995hoo]

I don't think anybody knows, although given that there is a James City County, maybe it would be the City of Fairfax County.

[74/171FAN]

Huh??? Didn't even know this until now. I used to love using Turner Rd as a cut through to avoid that parallel part of Chippenham (ESPECIALLY during rush hour) but it's been a few years since I used it. Wonder what made them take away the lane?

I looked at the Chesterfield County Traffic Data from 2021 and only saw 12,000 AADT at its highest.

[WillWeaverRVA]

Also the recent talk, which has quieted down after a flurry of discussion a few years ago, about Fairfax County's board of supervisors exploring the idea of the county becoming an independent city. To be sure, their interest isn't really roads, but rather the ability to impose certain taxes the independent cities are allowed to impose that counties are not so as to have more money for the school system and the like. A downside, to most of us who live in Fairfax County who are aware of these issues, is that the county would become responsible for road maintenance, which in turn would suck up most of those taxes they want to impose unless they just let the roads deteriorate. I find it hard to see much benefit to the proposal.

Being that there is already an independent city called Fairfax, what would the county be called? Or would the existing city just annex the county somehow?

The county offices are located in the city, so I imagine the city would annex the county if that ever happened (this is what happened with Suffolk and Nansemond County).

Huh??? Didn't even know this until now. I used to love using Turner Rd as a cut through to avoid that parallel part of Chippenham (ESPECIALLY during rush hour) but it's been a few years since I used it. Wonder what made them take away the lane?

Yeah, Chesterfield County commissioned the road diet as a pilot project, citing decreasing traffic along the segment (which makes no sense because despite the 12,000 AADT in 2021, that stretch can be busy during rush hour for that very reason). They considered it a success and are planning additional road diets.

The City of Richmond has also been doing some road diets, recently converting VA 197 from VA 147 to Monument Ave to a 2-lane road with bike lanes.

[1995hoo]

Also the recent talk, which has quieted down after a flurry of discussion a few years ago, about Fairfax County's board of supervisors exploring the idea of the county becoming an independent city. To be sure, their interest isn't really roads, but rather the ability to impose certain taxes the independent cities are allowed to impose that counties are not so as to have more money for the school system and the like. A downside, to most of us who live in Fairfax County who are aware of these issues, is that the county would become responsible for road maintenance, which in turn would suck up most of those taxes they want to impose unless they just let the roads deteriorate. I find it hard to see much benefit to the proposal.

Being that there is already an independent city called Fairfax, what would the county be called? Or would the existing city just annex the county somehow?

The county offices are located in the city, so I imagine the city would annex the county if that ever happened (this is what happened with Suffolk and Nansemond County).

....

Only some of them (the courthouse and related operations being the two main ones; the schools used to be there too, but they moved to the old AAA headquarters near Merrifield). Don't forget the county opened a very large government center a few miles west of Fairfax City some years back–it's off I-66 near the Monument Drive HO/T exit. The government center complex has grown considerably over the past ten years or so.

[davewiecking]

....

That said, as I recall it was Fairfax County which built the Fairfax County Parkway, which was then turned over to VDOT for maintenance and future improvements. So, there's that layer of potential confusion, too...

I believe that's right, and I seem to recall there was a bunch of bureaucratic red tape involved at the time and that VDOT was initially quite reluctant to cooperate. I don't recall the details, though, as (perhaps unsurprisingly) I was less interested in the niceties of transportation funding in the 1980s than I am now. I do remember the days when the road was still referred to as the "Springfield Bypass" in news reports.

Is this when VA-7100 turned into VA-286?

[1995hoo]

....

That said, as I recall it was Fairfax County which built the Fairfax County Parkway, which was then turned over to VDOT for maintenance and future improvements. So, there's that layer of potential confusion, too...

I believe that's right, and I seem to recall there was a bunch of bureaucratic red tape involved at the time and that VDOT was initially quite reluctant to cooperate. I don't recall the details, though, as (perhaps unsurprisingly) I was less interested in the niceties of transportation funding in the 1980s than I am now. I do remember the days when the road was still referred to as the "Springfield Bypass" in news reports.

Is this when VA-7100 turned into VA-286?

That was much more recent, within the past ten years. Road construction began back in the mid- to late-1980s; the first segment to open ran between I-66 and US-50 through the area now known as Fair Lakes (which didn't really exist then).

There used to be a weigh station on I-66 roughly where the Parkway interchange is now.

[Takumi]

Huh??? Didn't even know this until now. I used to love using Turner Rd as a cut through to avoid that parallel part of Chippenham (ESPECIALLY during rush hour) but it's been a few years since I used it. Wonder what made them take away the lane?

Yeah, Chesterfield County commissioned the road diet as a pilot project, citing decreasing traffic along the segment (which makes no sense because despite the 12,000 AADT in 2021, that stretch can be busy during rush hour for that very reason). They considered it a success and are planning additional road diets.

The City of Richmond has also been doing some road diets, recently converting VA 197 from VA 147 to Monument Ave to a 2-lane road with bike lanes.

Where are the other planned ones?

[WillWeaverRVA]

Huh??? Didn't even know this until now. I used to love using Turner Rd as a cut through to avoid that parallel part of Chippenham (ESPECIALLY during rush hour) but it's been a few years since I used it. Wonder what made them take away the lane?

Yeah, Chesterfield County commissioned the road diet as a pilot project, citing decreasing traffic along the segment (which makes no sense because despite the 12,000 AADT in 2021, that stretch can be busy during rush hour for that very reason). They considered it a success and are planning additional road diets.

The City of Richmond has also been doing some road diets, recently converting VA 197 from VA 147 to Monument Ave to a 2-lane road with bike lanes.

Where are the other planned ones?

Chesterfield's done studies for road diets on Smoketree Dr (already two-lane but lanes will be narrowed), Southlake Blvd/Koger Center Dr/Johnston Willis Dr/Trade Rd (Trade Rd is already two-lane but lanes will be narrowed), and Whitepine Rd.

[Takumi]

All those make some sense. The four-lane segment of Whitepine is barely used as it is.