U.S. Route 460 (US 460) in Virginia runs east–west through the southern part of the Commonwealth. The road has two separate pieces in Virginia, joined by a relatively short section in West Virginia. Most of US 460 is a four-lane divided highway and is a major artery in the southern third of the state. From Petersburg to Suffolk, US 460 is a four-lane non-divided highway. It is a popular alternative to Interstate 64 (I-64) when going from Richmond and other points in central Virginia to the Currituck Sound and Outer Banks of North Carolina, avoiding the congestion and tunnels of the more northerly I-64 corridor. The road passes through several small towns that built up at stops along the railroad line.
US 460 from I-81 at Christiansburg west to Pikeville, Kentucky, including the piece in West Virginia, is Corridor Q of the Appalachian Development Highway System. From West Virginia east to I-81, US 460 also is part of the proposed I-73.
Route description Big Rock to Bluefield US 460 enters Buchanan County from Pike County, Kentucky, within the Cumberland Plateau, a multi-state dissected plateau that is part of the Appalachian Mountains. The U.S. Highway heads southeast as a two-lane road parallel to Norfolk Southern Railway's Buchanan Branch in the narrow valley of the Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy River. US 460 passes by the communities of Conaway, Big Rock, and Artia before entering the town of Grundy, the county seat of Buchanan County, as Riverside Drive. The highway expands to four lanes and then becomes a divided highway as it approaches the center of Grundy, where the slopes of the hills have been blasted away to improve flood control, relocate highways to higher ground, and create more usable land for building. US 460 meets SR 83 (Edgewater Drive) at the confluence of Slate Creek and Levisa Fork. The two highways run concurrently south as a mix of two- and four-lane road through Tookland to Vansant, where SR 83 (Lovers Gap Road) splits west toward Clintwood. US 460 continues east as a four-lane divided highway through Deel, Janey, and Oakwood, the site of the Appalachian College of Pharmacy and where the railroad veers away from the highway. The U.S. Highway continues through Keen Mountain and Grimsleyville, between which the route leaves Levisa Fork near its headwaters. US 460 ascends to Shortt Gap, where the highway crosses Sandy Ridge. There, US 460 leaves the Ohio River watershed for the Tennessee River watershed, leaves the Cumberland Plateau for the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, and enters Tazewell County.
US 460 descends Sandy Ridge south along Coal Creek and passes through the community of Red Ash. The four-lane divided highway, named for George C. Peery, curves east and begins to parallel Norfolk Southern's Clinch Valley District rail line and the Clinch River at Raven, where the highway is paralleled by and is joined by SR 67. US 460 and SR 67 enter the town of Richlands; west of the downtown area, US 460 Bus. splits east with SR 67 onto Front Street. US 460 passes to the north of downtown and has a partial cloverleaf interchange with SR 67 (Railroad Avenue). The U.S. Highway continues into the town of Cedar Bluff and has a pair of right-in/right-out interchanges with its business route, here named Cedar Valley Drive. US 460 leaves the railroad and river, collects the eastern end of its business route, and heads south out of Cedar Bluff to Claypool Hill, where the highway intersects US 19 (Steelburg Highway).
US 460 and US 19 head east along four-lane divided George C. Peery Highway, which is also named The Trail of the Lonesome Pine, through a long east–west valley between Paint Lick Mountain and Deskin Mountain to the south and Smith Ridge to the north. The U.S. Highways rejoin the Clinch River and the Clinch Valley District rail line at Pounding Mill. US 19 and US 460 head through Cliffield and Maxwell to Pisgah, where US 19 Bus. and US 460 Bus. split south along Crab Orchard Road toward Frog Level. The mainline highways have a partial cloverleaf interchange with SR 16 Alt. (Fairground Road) at the western town limit of Tazewell. US 460 and US 19 continue through a diamond interchange with SR 16 (Tazewell Avenue) and a partial cloverleaf interchange with SR 61 (Riverside Drive) at a crossing of the Clinch River and the railroad west of downtown Tazewell. At the northeast corner of town, the U.S. Highways have a pair of right-in/right-out interchanges with SR 645 and SR 678, cross the rail line, and have a partial interchange with the eastern ends of their business routes.
US 460 and US 19 continue east between East River Mountain to the south and Little Valley Ridge to the north; the highways leave the Tennessee River watershed and enter the valley of the Bluestone River, which is part of the New River watershed. The U.S. Highways follow the river through Springville to the town of Bluefield, at the west end of which US 19 (Trail of the Lonesome Pine) splits northeast at a trumpet interchange to pass through the centers of the twin cities of Bluefield, Virginia, and Bluefield. On the southern edge of the town, US 460 parallels SR 720 (Fincastle Turnpike and Valley Dale Street) and has a pair of partial cloverleaf interchanges with that highway; the eastern interchange leads to SR 102 (College Avenue). East of the latter interchange, US 460 enters West Virginia. The U.S. Highway serves that state's Bluefield and Princeton before re-entering Virginia near where the New River crosses the Virginia–West Virginia state line.
Glen Lyn to Christiansburg US 460 re-enters Virginia at the town of Glen Lyn in Giles County at the northwestern end of the New River Valley region. The four-lane divided U.S. Highway, named Virginia Avenue throughout Giles County, crosses the East River, briefly parallels a bend in Norfolk Southern Railway's Christiansburg District, and crosses to the east side of the New River. US 460 follows the river around a bend into the town of Rich Creek, where the highway meets the southern end of US 219 (Island Street). The route follows the river south through a gap between East River Mountain to the west and Peters Mountain to the east to the town of Narrows, where the highway meets the eastern end of SR 61 (Fleshman Street). US 460 curves east and crosses the New River again into the county seat of Pearisburg; there, US 460 Bus. (Main Street) splits off at a trumpet interchange to serve downtown Pearisburg and connect with SR 100. East of the town in Ripplemead, the U.S. Highway meets the eastern end of US 460 Bus. (Wenonah Avenue) and SR 636 (Ripplemead Road) at a diamond interchange and crosses the New River and its parallel rail lines.
US 460 veers away from the New River and its rail lines at the town of Pembroke, through which the highway temporarily becomes undivided. The highway follows Sinking Creek to Newport, where the highway meets the southern end of the middle segment of SR 42 (Bluegrass Trail). East of Newport, US 460 ascends Sinking Creek Mountain, at the top of which the highway enters Montgomery County. The highway, now named Pandapas Pond Road, passes between the eponymous pond, which is the source of Poverty Creek, which flows west into the New River, and the headwaters of Craig Creek, which flows east toward the James River. US 460 next crosses over Brush Mountain, east of which the highway curves south at Toms Creek and enters the town of Blacksburg.
At the north end of town, the long US 460 Bus. that serves both Blacksburg and Christiansburg splits off along Main Street while US 460 bypasses downtown Blacksburg and Virginia Tech to the west. The four-lane freeway has partial cloverleaf interchanges with Toms Creek Road and Prices Fork Road, which heads east as SR 412 toward downtown Blacksburg and the center of the Virginia Tech campus. The freeway previously had one at-grade intersection: a junction with Southgate Drive (SR 314), which provided access to the Virginia Tech athletics facilities, including Lane Stadium and Cassell Coliseum; the Virginia–Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine; and a research park that contains Virginia Tech Montgomery Executive Airport. Construction started in the spring of 2015 on a new diverging-diamond interchange that replaced the at-grade Southgate Drive intersection. The new interchange is just south (east) of the current intersection and serves both the Virginia Tech campus and the Corporate Research Center via new roads and a relocated Southgate Drive (including two roundabouts). The project, which includes two bridges over US 460, opened in December 2017 one year earlier than estimated. At the southern edge of the research park, US 460 meets its business route (Main Street) at a complex interchange featuring many flyover ramps and a variety of direct and indirect connections to allow every movement between the two highways. Immediately to the east of the interchange is the western end of the Virginia Smart Road, a Virginia Department of Transportation facility that is not open to the public.
US 460 continues south parallel to its business route and enters the town of Christiansburg, the county seat of Montgomery County. The U.S. Highway has a partial cloverleaf interchange with the eastern end of SR 114 (Peppers Ferry Road) before it reaches another complex interchange with US 460 Bus. (Franklin Street). That interchange includes pair of flyovers from both directions of US 460 and a trumpet interchange to the north of Norfolk Southern's Christiansburg District and the business route's interchange with SR 111 (Cambria Street). US 460 bypasses the center of Christiansburg and crosses over the Christiansburg District rail line before meeting the business route again, this time concurrent with US 11 (Roanoke Street), at a diamond interchange just north of US 460's full cloverleaf interchange with I-81, which has collector-distributor lanes through the interchange. The US 460 roadway continues south of I-81 as Parkway Drive, and there are ramps from the southbound I-81 ramp to westbound US 460 and from US 11 to the ramp from eastbound US 460 to southbound I-81. The two directions of US 460 continue along the collector-distributor lanes of I-81 east to the Interstate's partial cloverleaf interchange with US 11 and the eastern end of US 460 Bus., where US 460 exits into a concurrency with US 11.
Christiansburg to Roanoke US 460 and US 11 follow a four-lane road with center turn lane toward the eastern end of Christiansburg, where the highways cross the Eastern Continental Divide from the New River watershed to the Roanoke River watershed. This road, named Roanoke Road and Lee Highway, reduces to two lanes plus center turn lane and then two lanes westbound, one lane eastbound as it descends the Pedlar Hills, also known as Christiansburg Mountain. At the bottom of the descent, US 460 and US 11 expand to a four-lane divided highway and parallel the Christiansburg District rail line and Spring Branch to the stream's confluence with the South Fork of the Roanoke River at Shawsville. The U.S. Highways follow the rail line and South Fork through Elliston to its confluence with the North Fork to form the Roanoke River proper at Lafayette, just east of which the road enters Roanoke County. US 460 and US 11 continue east along the river valley between Poor Mountain to the south and Fort Lewis Mountain to the north through Glenvar until the valley opens into the broad Roanoke Valley as the road enters the independent city of Salem.