The road was already there. But it's suddenly considered an Important Road because it's now a federal route and not a state secondary route? Why does he think Eden will suddenly become a boom town just because a few route shields changed?
I have never driven this road, but I do know that a road in Virginia with a primary system route number will receive significantly more resources in terms of VDOT maintenance dollars.
The three Northern Virginia parkways (Fairfax County, Franconia-Springfield and Prince William) that were recently moved from the secondary system (formerly 7100, 7900 and 3000, respectively) to the primary system (286, 289 and 294) have gotten badly-needed pavement milling and repaving almost as soon as the transfer was approved by the CTB.
I was on Va. 289 last week, and the condition of the pavement is dramatically better than it was as Va. 7900, and the repaving work is not even completed yet.