Highways in Virginia

[Pref. Jim Fonseca at George Mason University once suggested that John Smith, writing about his men sailing up the Potomac in 1608 to the area that would become Alexandria, may have said: " And we came upon a greate wyde roade of a rod in breadthe and we followed it several dayes and to our greate dysmaye found oursylves backe at the pointe from whence we cayme " - and thus discovered Interstate 495, the Capital Beltway.]

Interstate 66, looking east from Vienna Metro Station

That car window is a movie screen, and you're watching the show as you drive through Virginia. It's a bigger image than IMAX, and the color is much richer than what you see projected on a theater screen. A TV can't come close, of course.

We'll provide (ultimately...) a virtual tour here, with an emphasis on natural and historical resources just outside the window. If you're in a car now, browsing the Web with a high-tech device, take advantage of a simple upgrade to access Smell-O-Rama features. Just roll down your window, especially if the honeysuckle is blooming in June. Or - gasp!

stop the car
take a short walk

...preferably in that order.

View from Route 50 at Paris (Ashby Gap)

Where do Virginia roads come from? Some started as animal paths, were used as Native American trails, then were upgraded to wagon roads by the European immigrants. Where do you think those Europeans built their first road?

No, it was not I-95 or the Springfield Interchange, though commuters sometimes think they have been under construction since time began. Remember where European settlement started in Virginia, back in 1607. You can still walk on the first road - at Jamestown. The pavement? Oyster shells, because the Coastal Plain there is offers few rock "exposures" for development as quarry sites. Walk on the green at Colonial Williamsburg, between the Magazine and the old James City County courthouse, and you can see that oyster shells were a common surfacing material in the new capital of the colony, a century after Jamestown.

When it rains on the Coastal Plain, the water doesn't always drain through sandy sediments. General George McClellan discovered in the Spring of 1862 that the dirt roads on the Peninsula would not support the pounding by the feet of massed troops - and the roads degraded quickly into muddy quagmires, after passage of a few wagons and heavy cannons.

In Virginia, Midlothian Turnpike (US 60) in Chesterfield County is reputed to be the first paved road in the state, way back on 1807.¹ However, this claim suggests the Little River Turnpike was not "paved."

the basic supply/demand problem: growth in Vehicle Miles Travelled vs. increased capacity of highway system, 1982-2004

the basic supply/demand problem: growth in Vehicle Miles Travelled (VMT)
vs. increased capacity of highway system, 1982-2004
Source: National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission interim report,
February 1, 2008 (Figure 1: Vehicle Miles Traveled and Capacity)

References

1. "Historic Chesterfield County Attracting visitors since 1611," www.chesterfield.gov/HistoricChesterfield/history.asp (last checked July 28, 2008)

Transportation Patterns in Virginia
Geography of Virginia

Highways in Virginia

Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT)

Where Does Virginia Get $10 Billion for Transportation?

Routes of Special Interest

Sprawl in Virginia

Links

References