I have a few questions about the Danville, VA area.
Was VA 51 once US 58? If so, did it make a 90° turn from Westover Drive to Riverside Drive or was it configured differently then?
US 58 was removed from VA 51 in Oct 1954. US 58 used the alignment now occupied by the US 58 WB ramp to VA 51 so it was not a hard 90.
Was VA 293 once US 29?
VA 293 was mainline US 29 until Dec 1970 and US 29 Business from then until June 1996
Was Memorial Drive (Business US 29/VA 413) an early US 29 bypass?
Memorial Dr east of Union was US 58 until Aug 1947. Between today's US 29 Bus and Union St was never in the primary system until VA 413 came along.
When was Business US 29 between VA 293 and Business US 58 built? Was it part of a bypass built after Memorial Drive?
What is now US 29 Business was the original bypass of Danville and was US 29 ALT from Jan 1941 to Dec 1970 when it became US 29 Bypass. At least some of this road existed as SR 750 prior to 1941.
Was Piedmont Drive once US 29 or Business US 29?
Only the part south of current US 58 Business, which was also VA 125.
Did US 360 once end at the current VA 293/VA 360 intersection (Main Street at Richmond Blvd)? Or did it end at US 58?
My impression is that is has always ended at the intersection it does now.
What's with all the interchanges on Central Blvd (Business US 29/VA 86)? Was VA 86 once part of US 29, and was Central Blvd once planned to be a part of a larger freeway?
VA 86 south of W. Main St has never been part of US 29. I am not aware of grander plans for Central Blvd.
Why does US 360 still end at VA 293? VA 293 hasn't been US 29 in a long time. Why doesn't it end at either US 58 in South Boston or at US 29?
IMO the logic is that it ends at VA 360, which was supposed to be US 360 ALT but AASHTO denied VDOT's request to call it that when US 360 moved to its routing via South Boston in 1984. There is no particular reason it couldn't end at South Boston, though I have floated the theory, and somebody actually recommended to NCDOT that US 360 replace US 311 southwest to Winston-Salem
Does US 311 end at Business US 58 or does it follow Business US 58 west to end at US 58? Is there any mention of US 311 from US 58?
It ends at US 58 Business. There are TO US 311 shields from both directions of US 58 at the west end of US 58 Business.
I would recommend visiting
http://vahighways.com/route-log/index.htm which can answer many Virginia routing questions...