Of course, Mike’s plan requires the renumbering of the entire system. That makes it unlikely that highway officials would actually shell out the money for all those new signs. Also, interstate highways have been reduced to an earmark feeding frenzy that builds such projects as the Bud Shuster Highway in places they really shouldn’t be. To get a ‘big number’ route, you’ve got to pull out the stops and go for an interstate. Yes, we need to continually upgrade the highway system, but there are many excellent routes that could be assimilated into a national grid with no [or very little] improvement.

Virginia arterial highway constructed in the late '60s. Note the 'rolling' older lanes on the other side of the median.. Also note that the trees of the old fence line were left in the grassy median.

In the 1960’s, Virginia saw the need to develop the rest of the highway system in the state and created the Virginia Arterial Highway System in 1964. Although funding constraints prevented building highways to full interstate standards, the program took a 'bare bones' approach to creating a network of divided highways. Many times the 'old' side of the road was not regraded and a few instances existed where the existing lanes were not widened immediately, resulting in some deviation from a uniform standard, but the program resulted in many fine highways with dividing medians that often incorporated the old fence line trees as a delightful landscaping element. The roads added safety and smoothness of travel at a smaller cost and enabled the state to improve far more of its infrastructure. The only problem was that without proper right of way controls, some cities were bypassed only to have the bypass become the new commercial strip. The city of Warrenton offers a prime example of this phenomenon! There is now a second Warrenton bypass that is limited access.
Copyright 2007, Kirchman Associates