What happened to all the Bypass US Routes on Virginia routes?

[roadman65]

I remember when the four US 13 Business Routes on the Eastern VA Shore had the mainline US 13 signed as BYPASS US 13. That also goes for the brief US 13 Bypass designated along I-64 in the 60s and 70s when Military Highway was BUSINESS US 13 for a brief moment in history as well.

Is that something to do with FHWTA guidlines?  Or did VDOT decide they were too confusing to us drivers and changed them?  I see the State of North Carolina uses them and in Rocky Mount US 301 is signed BYPASS US 301 there still!

[Mapmikey]

BYPASS banners are rare but not extinct in Virginia.

US 250 Bypass of Charlottesville has BYPASS banners on many of its postings.
There are US 17 BYPASS signs on US 1 in Fredericksburg (erroneous as US 17 has never used US 1 Byp route).

Mapmikey
Co-curator Virginia Highways Project
www.vahighways.com

[Alps]

On this last trip I ran into situations with a Truck Bypass, and Business route, with nothing clearly labeled as a through route. Is the truck bypass the actual route or is it just a signed route for trucks? Which one do I really want to follow? I think there should be one route that's signed as just the plain number, but that's just my opinion. (I would say the same for I-35E/W)

[NE2]

I would tend to agree that there should be one through route, but in a way a business/bypass setup is just an extension of the idea of a local/express split.

[WillWeaverRVA]

On this last trip I ran into situations with a Truck Bypass, and Business route, with nothing clearly labeled as a through route. Is the truck bypass the actual route or is it just a signed route for trucks? Which one do I really want to follow? I think there should be one route that's signed as just the plain number, but that's just my opinion. (I would say the same for I-35E/W)

Usually, TRUCK routes in Virginia are separate bannered routes (a la BUSINESS, BYPASS, ALT, etc.). I think in that case, though, the intent was for truck traffic to use the mainline (which is usually the BYPASS route).

[mightyace]

Franklin, TN has/had/implied a Business/Truck for US 31 and 431.  Where these roads intersect Mack Hatcher Parkway (now TN 397), you see or used to see signs for TRUCK US 31 and TRUCK US 431.  And, just after the intersection the road going into town would say BUSINESS 31 or 431.  However, all of the signage in downtown Franklin does not have any banners at all.

[hbelkins]

Years ago on family trips to the Outer Banks in North Carolina, I remember many of the US routes splitting into "Business" and "Bypass" routes, with the mainline disappearing. Now it seems the practice is to sign either a bypass or business route and keep the mainline running.

Kentucky is inconsistent. Some mainline routes continue into town with a bannered bypass, while others follow the new routing with a bannered business route.

Speaking of which, why do the banners say "By-Pass" and not merely "Bypass?"

[agentsteel53]

Speaking of which, why do the banners say "By-Pass" and not merely "Bypass?"

just an old-fashioned spelling that happens to have been carried through various revisions of the MUTCD.  It's how it was originally defined in 1926. 

[jwolfer]

On this last trip I ran into situations with a Truck Bypass, and Business route, with nothing clearly labeled as a through route. Is the truck bypass the actual route or is it just a signed route for trucks? Which one do I really want to follow? I think there should be one route that's signed as just the plain number, but that's just my opinion. (I would say the same for I-35E/W)

Florida had TRUCK routes signed.  They were the bypasses.  My granddaddy was a photographer for LIFE and different newpapers in Florida in the 1940s and 50s so he did lots of driving pre-interstate.  He said to always take the truck route to get through a town.  He said the politicians  made it that way me it to keep the vacationers on the route through towns.  Florida usually pushed a widened US highway down the main street of the town for business.  Bypasses on US highways are rare in Florida but common in Georgia (ie Starke, FL vs Waycross, GA)

[NE2]

Though Georgia and Florida both like building one-way pairs through smaller towns (compare US 17 south of Bartow to e.g. US 84 in Homerville).

[jwolfer]

Though Georgia and Florida both like building one-way pairs through smaller towns (compare US 17 south of Bartow to e.g. US 84 in Homerville).

THere was a one way pair of US17/SR228 in Riverside/Avondale neighborhood of Jax from 1946 until 2008ish.  Post St was NB.  College St was SB.  They are routed onto I-10 and I-95 now and the roads are now 2 way and city streets. Riverside-Avondale preservation wanted this for years. 

[NE2]

I'm not talking about that, but about more recent one-way pairs in small towns where the road on both sides is being widened. On US 17 they mostly used an old railroad grade for the new lanes. In Lake Alfred they used old CR 555 and an adjacent railroad grade (here it was actually four lanes on both sides, with a bottleneck through Lake Alfred).

[Brian556]

Florida had TRUCK routes signed.  They were the bypasses.  My granddaddy was a photographer for LIFE and different newpapers in Florida in the 1940s and 50s so he did lots of driving pre-interstate.  He said to always take the truck route to get through a town.  He said the politicians  made it that way me it to keep the vacationers on the route through towns.  Florida usually pushed a widened US highway down the main street of the town for business.  Bypasses on US highways are rare in Florida but common in Georgia (ie Starke, FL vs Waycross, GA)

Texas uses "TRUCK" banners in two very different and confusing ways. See this topic
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=2534.0for an explanation.

[roadman65]

There used to be a split in US 258 at Smithfield, VA where it would become BUSINESS and TRUCK! No mainline either.  I have not been that way for ages, so I do not know what or how it is signed now.

I am suprised that Lafayette Street in Williamsburg is not a Business US 60.  There once was a US 60Z that ran along France Street (through the restored area) and Richmond Road that, I guess, was a business route then spite it went through residential areas as well as historic sites.  Nonetheless, VA 162 was extended beyond Second Street in the 80s it could have been that instead.

[Takumi]

US 258 Business in Smithfield still exists, as does a VA (NOT US) 258 ALT.  The old US 60Z route was indeed VA 162 until 1994, when the route was dropped from Williamsburg, leaving the hilariously short stub of VA 162 that still exists today. The old routing is still partially VA 5, east of VA 132, and unnumbered west of there.