Current and historic endpoints of US highway 60
in Virginia Beach and Hampton Roads
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Approx. time period
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East Terminus
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1926-1929
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Newport News, VA
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| 1929-1931 |
Virginia Beach (VA Beach Blvd) |
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1931-1961
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Virginia Beach (Camp Pendleton)
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| 1961-present |
Virginia Beach (Rudee Inlet) |
Note: Adam
Froehlig and Mike
Roberson (authors of the Virginia
Highways Project website) provided invaluable help in researching the
info presented on this page. More info: Stephen
Platt; Shayne
Stevens. Photo credits: Jeff
Morrison; Alex Nitzman;
Mike
Roberson; me
Abbreviations used on this page:
VDoT = Virginia Department of Transportation
CTB = Commonwealth Transportation Board
During its first couple years, US 60 ended in Newport News,
at the landing of a ferry to Norfolk. The map below, from that timeframe,
shows US 17/60 coming in on Virginia Avenue (now Warwick Blvd), east on
25th Street, and south again on Jefferson Avenue to the ferry dock:
c. 1929
Here is a modern photo from that location:
Roberson, Apr. 2008
That's looking south on Jefferson, approaching the old ferry
dock. US 60 ended there, but on the map above, the ferry line (and US 17)
are shown connecting with what is now Admiral Taussig Boulevard in the Naval
Base at Norfolk, then south on Maryland Avenue/Hampton Boulevard into downtown,
where a connection could be made with US 117 [I]. The same year
that map was made, the US 60 designation was extended across to Norfolk
via this ferry, and from downtown Norfolk it was duplexed with US 117 along
Virginia Beach Boulevard to a common terminus at Atlantic Avenue on the
oceanfront. (US 117 later became US 58, and that is now Business US 58.
You can view a photo from there on my US
58 page.) At the time, Atlantic was VA hwy. 501, which continued south
to end at Camp Pendleton.
Within another year the route of US 60 was changed: it no
longer went through downtown Norfolk, but instead ran along the Chesapeake
Bay shoreline. In other words, it essentially followed today's route, except
coming south on Atlantic, it still terminated at the same intersection it
had before (Atlantic at VA Beach Blvd). In about 1931, US 60 was rerouted
from Newport News through Hampton to Ft. Monroe, where a different ferry
carried it across to Norfolk's Ocean View area. In 1932 VA 501 was replaced
by VA 12. Then in 1933, US 60 was extended further south on Atlantic, along
what had been VA 501/VA 12. At the time it was Atlantic Avenue (not Pacific
Avenue) that had a bridge across Rudee Inlet. So US 60 continued along South
Atlantic, ending just past Lockheed Avenue at the military property boundary:
Roberson, Apr. 2008
That's looking south on Atlantic. This is a residential area,
but the road is concrete - not what you'd expect in a neighborhood like
this - proving that this segment of Atlantic once served a more important
purpose. Presumably where the brick wall is now was the original entrance
to Camp Pendleton (now the entrance is one block inland, at the south end
of Vanderbilt Avenue). If you turn around and head north for about a half-mile,
you'll come to the gate shown below:
Roberson, Apr. 2008
US 60 used to continue ahead, crossing Rudee Inlet via a bridge
that no longer exists, and connecting with Atlantic Av on the other side.
That was the situation for the next 30 years.
During those years, there were a few significant changes to
the routing of US 60 in the area (although none of them affected its terminus).
In about 1940, US 60's bypass of Cape Henry and Ft. Story was completed.
In 1957 the Hampton Roads Tunnel was opened, so US 60 traffic no longer
had to use a ferry between Norfolk and Ft. Monroe. The next year, US 60
was relocated in VA Beach, and Business US 60 was created. Mainline US 60
no longer stayed on Atlantic all the way through VA Beach. Instead, heading
north, US 60 turned west with US 58 for one block on 17th Street/VA Beach
Blvd, and then continued north again via Pacific. Business US 60 began on
Atlantic at 17th, went north following the former route of mainline US 60,
and ended near 44th, where it rejoined US 60 at the north end of Pacific.
(Today the north end of Pacific is at about 41st, but the junction was different
back then - the map below shows how it used to be configured):
USGS, c. 1965
The original Atlantic Av bridge over Rudee Inlet was considerably
closer to the shoreline than today's bridge, and apparently there were issues
keeping that bridge open to traffic. As I read through the CTB minutes from
the late 1930s and early 1940s, there are mentions of "...the situation
at Rudee Inlet..." and discussions about "...a seawall to sustain
the road..." Whatever solutions were tried, apparently they weren't
successful. Instead of continuing to span Rudee Inlet at that particular
location, VDoT simply abandoned the old bridge. A new bridge was planned
to be built at essentially the same location as today's bridge (further
inland). This bridge opened to traffic sometime between 1960 and 1968. But
curiously, VDoT never re-routed US 60 traffic over the new bridge. Instead,
they simply truncated US 60 at the north edge of Rudee Inlet. Here's an
excerpt from page 24 of the CTB meeting minutes of Sep. 1961:
"...the portion of US Route 60 at Rudee Inlet, between the face
of the north and south walls of the abutments, a distance of 200 feet, being
no longer necessary for uses as a highway, be abandoned altogether as a public
road... and that the remaining portion of Route 60 beginning at the south
abutment and extending south to the present end of maintenance, a distance
of 0.763 mile, be transferred from the Primary System to the Secondary System
of Highways..."
So after that time, the easternmost portion of US 60 no longer
served a particular destination - it just quietly fizzled out at a dead-end
north of Rudee Inlet. Page 6 of the CTB minutes from two years later (Oct. 1963)
clearly defined the routings of both US 60...
"Beginning at Rudee Inlet; thence northerly along Atlantic Avenue, westerly
along 17th Street, northerly along Pacific Avenue and Atlantic Avenue, and
westerly along Shore Drive to the W.C.L. of Virginia Beach..."
...and Business 60:
"Beginning at its intersection with U. S. Route 60 at 17th Street; thence
northerly along Atlantic Avenue to its intersection with Pacific Avenue (U.S.
Route 60)..."
Since then, to my knowledge, VDoT has not made any changes to
the routing of either US 60 or Business 60. In fact, nearly 50 years later,
VDoT's online map server still shows US 60 coming down Pacific, jogging over
to Atlantic on 17th, and then resuming south:
Mar. 2008 screenshot
However, 1963 was also the year that Princess Anne County and
the City of VA Beach merged. When that happened, non-interstate signage within
the jurisdiction of VA Beach became the responsibility of the City (not VDoT).
My guess is that's when the quality of highway signage in VA Beach began its
downhill slide. Shayne, who was stationed in Virginia in the mid-1970s, wrote
to describe his recollection during that time:
"The major intersections in VA Beach were well-marked. Eastbound
US 60 split into mainline US 60 (Pacific Av) and Business US 60 (Atlantic
Av). This division was well-marked, using the then-typical small Virginia
cut-out US shields on wooden posts. Both routes were marked with reassurance
shields south to Laskin Road (where US 58 ended) and continuing down to VA
Beach Blvd, which was marked "Business US 58". No "End" signs anywhere,
but the proper directional signs were posted for US 58 and US 60 and their
respective business routes."
So VDoT's old signage continued to serve its purpose for a time.
But at some point those old signs were removed, and by the time I visited in
1999, it appeared that most of them had never been replaced. I first went out
US 58 (Laskin Road), and then down to Business US 58 (VA Beach Blvd), looking
for signs, but not immediately seeing any references to either US 60
or US 58, business or mainline. Then I headed north, looking for the first sign
that would tell me I was on US 60. Not a thing until all the way up at Ft. Story,
five miles north of its terminus:
Nitzman, Apr. 2001
That's where Atlantic curves and becomes Shore Boulevard. (If
you were to turn right at the intersection ahead, which is one of the entrances
to Ft. Story, the road re-aligns with old Atlantic Av, which was the pre-1940
alignment of US 60). Also at that intersection is a "Mile 0" marker. That, coupled
with the fact that there's no reference to US 60 in downtown VA Beach, made
me wonder whether the US 60 designation had been truncated to Ft. Story. But
Stephen wrote to explain that's just a mile marker for the newer bypass segment
of US 60 (he says there are other bypasses in the area that also have "Mile
0" markers posted at their east beginning). So then I drove back south
from there, to see if there were any US 60 signs going that direction. The only
one I saw was on Pacific, just past 36th Street:
me, Oct. 1999 (still there as of 2008)
Not far behind that sign, Atlantic becomes Pacific. If you want
to continue south on Atlantic, you have to make a left turn at about the 4100
block. That's the north beginning of Business 60 (or at least it was), but there
were no signs to that effect (it may have been decommissioned, as there is no
longer any mention of it in recent VA route logs). Further south, there were
no signs for US 58 at Laskin, or Business US 58 at 17th. And there was no sign
indicating that US 60 turns west on 17th before continuing south again on Atlantic:
Google Maps Street View, 2008
Yeah, I-264 is to the right, but what about the fact that US 60
turns left here? Basically, highway signage in VA Beach is... well, I hate to
use such a strong word, but it's truly pathetic. And ironically, one of the
few signs that is posted - the "End" assembly south of Rudee
Inlet - is erroneous! US 60 has never been routed on Pacific anywhere
south of 17th! It's surprising to me that a city with so many out-of-town and
out-of-state visitors doesn't try to do a better job helping people get around.
But in their defense: I think Virginia may have the only state transportation
department that places responsibility for signage with its municipalities. The
nearby state capitol, Richmond, is also plagued with inaccurate highway signage.
It's possible these cities don't even employ anyone who realizes what they're
supposed to be doing with signage, or how poorly they're currently doing it.
Anyway, heading south on Atlantic, when you get to the 4th Street
intersection, the road splits into a giant one-way loop:
Roberson, Apr. 2008
You have to go the direction of the car on the right, but at Rudee
Inlet the road loops back around to the north, and you end up coming back the
direction of the car at left. That's the original alignment of Atlantic, and
if you were to go that direction (please don't try it) you'd soon come to the
view shown below:
Google Maps Street View, 2008
Coming from the right is southbound Atlantic, curving around to
northbound Atlantic (you can see part of Rudee Inlet in the background). But
originally that curve didn't exist, and Atlantic continued ahead at far left.
That serves as a parking area now - the below was taken from there:
Roberson, Apr. 2008
That - believe it or not - is the east end of US 60, according
to VDoT records. Just over the wall is Rudee Inlet. There used to be a bridge
here, and in the distance you can see where Atlantic picks up again and continues
southward to the historic endpoint of US 60 (described above). Turning around
from that point, the east beginning of US 60 appears thus:
Roberson, Apr. 2008
Below are a couple more photos that pertain to US 60: the shot
below is looking west, where Atlantic curves to meet the north end of Pacific
(at about 41st Street). Downtown VA Beach is to the left:
Nitzman, Apr. 2001 (still there as of 2008)
That is (or was) the north end of Business US 60. Despite the
fact that mainline US 60 is an east/west route, its easternmost six-or-so miles
run north/south, so I suppose a case could be made that it is appropriate to
sign it that way.
It's ironic that there's hardly any US 60 signage on roads that
actually intersect US 60... yet US 60 is mentioned on the sign
below:
Nitzman, Apr. 2001
That shot was from southern VA Beach (south of Oceana Naval Air
Station), looking north on Princess Anne Road. Ahead, the road becomes General
Booth Boulevard - which, as the sign indicates, leads you to the oceanfront
and to US 60. (I'm not sure what the deal was with the black bands on the bottom
of each shield.)
That brings us up to the present: in about July 2004 the city
of VA Beach posted a new "End US 60" assembly on the south side of the Rudee
Inlet bridge:
Google Maps Street View, 2008
Below is a close-up:
Morrison, July 2008
I'm pleased that someone felt it was important to acknowledge
the endpoint of such a long and historic route. However, I'm not sure why it
was placed at that particular location: as I've said, US 60 has never been routed
on that segment of Pacific, nor over that particular bridge. But in its route
description, VDoT uses the phrase "beginning at Rudee Inlet", which is imprecise
and open to interpretation. So perhaps VA Beach simply misconstrued the routing
of US 60, and didn't consult with VDoT before placing their sign.
To see photos from the current and historic west endpoints
of US 60, go to my main
US 60 page.
Page (in its original form) created 11 November 1999; last updated
22 July 2008.
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