Transportation in the Commonwealth of Virginia is by land, sea and air. Virginia's extensive network of highways and railroads were developed and built over a period almost 400 years, beginning almost immediately after the founding of Jamestown in 1607, and often incorporating old established trails of the Native Americans.

History

Colonial period, 19th century During the colonial period, the Virginia Colony was dependent upon the waterways as avenues of commerce, and James River Plantations such as John Rolfe's Varina Farms with their own wharfs on the rivers of the Fall Line (at present-day Richmond were soon shipping tobacco and other export crops abroad. Other important navigable rivers in this period were the Elizabeth, York, and Potomac.

By the 19th century, the Virginia Board of Public Works was funding transportation infrastructure improvements, stimulating such private enterprises as the James River and Kanawha Canal, the Chesterfield Railroad, and the Valley Turnpike. Claudius Crozet's innovative tunnels under the Blue Ridge Mountains were a key link in Collis P. Huntington's railroad linking Virginia to the Ohio River Valley in 1873. Soon thereafter, Pocahontas coal was riding the rails from the mountains eastbound for export via the Chesapeake and Ohio, Norfolk and Western and Virginian Railways with coal piers on Hampton Roads.

20th-21st centuries With urging from the state chapter founded in Roanoke in 1894 of the National Good Roads Movement, in 1906 the Virginia General Assembly created the first State Highway Commission. In 1932, the state's role was expanded when the provisions of the Byrd Road Act during the Great Depression brought most secondary roads in the counties into the scope of state control and maintenance.

In the mid-20th century, Virginia's Henry G. Shirley Memorial Highway in Northern Virginia pioneered HOV and reversible traffic lanes. Prior to the creation of the Interstate Highway System, Virginia had some other notable roads to handle heavy traffic including Military Highway in South Hampton Roads, Mercury Boulevard on the Virginia Peninsula, and State Route 168, which extended from west of Williamsburg to the North Carolina border near the eastern edge of the Great Dismal Swamp, including Tidewater Drive in the Norfolk area. The Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike was built to relieve heavy traffic on US1-301 between those two cities.

In 1957, The Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel, first of its kind, was completed, and was soon incorporated into Interstate 64. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel completed in 1964 is the longest bridge-tunnel in the world. Interstate highways I-81 and I-95 are some of the busiest roads of commerce on the East Coast.

Of course, people and property continue to travel by ship, as the first settlers did. The Atlantic Ocean is accessed by the more sheltered Chesapeake Bay and Hampton Roads, with 5 major navigable rivers offering a wide choice of ports and industrial sites. International shipping traffic continues to grow as intermodal port and rail facilities are expanded. The Virginia Port Authority even operates an inland port in the Shenandoah Valley.

The Wright Brothers are credited with first flight just south of Virginia at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Other early flights took place at Willoughby Spit near Norfolk. In modern times, major commercial airports are located around the state, with many additional general aviation facilities.

For those who wish to live in the past, at least for a visit, the Colonial Parkway, carefully shielded from commercial development, joins Colonial Williamsburg with Yorktown and Jamestown, the three points of the Historic Triangle. By riding the toll free Jamestown Ferry service across the James River, it is even possible to arrive at Jamestown Island by water, with a similar view to that of the first colonists. Virginia's scenic byways include the Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park and the Blue Ridge Parkway. Even in busy Northern Virginia, a bucolic interlude is available inside the beltway on the George Washington Memorial Parkway. The state has literally dozens of other stretches of roads designated as scenic byways, and VDOT distributes a free map showing them.

Highways and bridges

The Virginia State Highway System is an integrated system of roads maintained by the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT). As of 2005, the VDOT maintains of state highways — the third largest system in the United States, after Texas and North Carolina. Interstate 95 and Interstate 81 are the two major north–south highways through Virginia. The Capital Beltway, Interstate 495 crosses the Potomac River in Alexandria and McLean. The Springfield Interchange at the junction of I-95, I-395, and the Capital Beltway, in Springfield, Virginia, south of Washington, D.C. has been reconstructed to improve traffic flow; widening of Woodrow Wilson Bridge was finished in mid-2008. Interstate 66, another heavily traveled route into Washington, DC, connects the Capital Beltway to I-81 at Front Royal, Virginia. Interstate 64 runs east–west through the state, from the terminus in Virginia's southeast in Chesapeake running northwest into Richmond, then west through Charlottesville and into West Virginia and beyond. Interstate 77 runs north–south through the state running from the North Carolina state line, goes through Wytheville heads through the Big Walker Mountain and then reaches the West Virginia state line.

Interstate highways

Virginia has an extensive network of Interstate Highways. The Interstate Highways, totaling in Virginia, are freeways designated by the Federal Highway Administration and numbered by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. They are in a special class with respect to federal funding. These Interstate Highways are as follows:

Major east–west routes (from south) are: I-74 (planned, not yet built) I-64 I-66 Major north–south routes (from west) are: I-73 (planned, not yet built)) I-77 I-81 I-85 I-95

Three-digit Interstates are: I-264 I-195 I-295 I-395 I-464 I-495 I-564 I-581 I-664 I-785 (partially built, but currently incomplete and not signed) Another planned route, I-895 is currently signed as State Route 895 and operated as toll road under a public-private financing partnership.

Primary highways

Primary highways, totaling , consist of U.S. Routes, designated and numbered by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, and primary State Routes, designated and numbered by VDOT. Alternate, business, and bypass special routes, as well as wye connections (with a "Y" suffix appended to the number), are all considered primary routes. , revised July 1, 2003

Primary routes are generally given numbers under 600. The two exceptions - State Route 785 and State Route 895 - are numbered as Interstate Highway spurs.

Major U.S. highways in Virginia include:

Secondary highways

Virginia has of secondary routes. These roads, numbered 600 and up, receive less funding than primary routes. Numbers are only unique within each county, though routes that cross county lines generally keep their numbers.

Under the provisions of the Byrd Road Act of 1932, the secondary roads in most of Virginia's counties are maintained by the Virginia Department of Transportation, an arrangement that a 1998 study found " unusual among the 50 states." (The study also identified such issues as drainage, speed limits, and planning and coordination of roads with development as those local leaders felt should be within their control).

The streets and roads in two counties, Arlington and Henrico, as well as some of the incorporated towns, and all of the independent cities are maintained by the various localities. In the early 21st century, the Virginia General Assembly was considering legislation to allow some additional counties (most likely those in fast-growing areas) to choose to resume control and care for the secondary highways within their boundaries.

National parkways

Several national parkways are located in Virginia. These include: Blue Ridge Parkway Colonial Parkway George Washington Memorial Parkway Skyline Drive

Beltways and bypasses

Northern Virginia

The Capital Beltway circles Washington D.C. through Northern Virginia, Maryland, and a tiny edge of the District of Columbia. The road is signed with Inner Loop and Outer Loop designations.

Hampton Roads

The Hampton Roads Beltway extends on a long loop through the region, crossing the harbor on two toll-free bridge-tunnel facilities. These crossings are the Hampton Roads Bridge–Tunnel between Phoebus in Hampton and Willoughby Spit in Norfolk and the Monitor–Merrimac Memorial Bridge–Tunnel between Newport News and Suffolk. The Beltway connects with another Interstate highway and three arterial U.S. Highways at Bower's Hill near the northeastern edge of the Great Dismal Swamp. The road is signed with Inner Loop and Outer Loop designations.

Also in Hampton Roads, the Williamsburg area has State Route 199, a semi-circular limited access roadway also named the Humelsine Parkway, which is sometimes locally referred to as the "Williamsburg Beltway."

Richmond

The Richmond area does not officially have a beltway. However, it has two roads that effectively form portions of a beltway, though they do not completely encircle Richmond. These are Interstate 295 in the northwest, northern, and eastern portions, and State Route 288 in the southwest and western areas.

Staunton

Staunton, Virginia's Staunton Beltway is a freeway-style 5-10 mile beltway highway making a complete circle around the city, except for about where it merges on with Interstate 81. The road is currently a 2 lane road, except for some areas to the far east and far west. In the future, the road will be expanded into a full 4 lane road.

Bypasses

Many urban areas in Virginia have roads that bypass the central portions. In some cases, semi-circumferential roadways exist, such as State Route 37 in the Winchester area, and State Route 199 in the Williamsburg and Historic Triangle area.

River and waterway crossings

Major bridges, tunnels, and bridge-tunnels

In the Hampton Roads area, there are three bridge-tunnel complexes known as the Hampton Roads Bridge–Tunnel, the Monitor–Merrimac Memorial Bridge–Tunnel, and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge–Tunnel. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge–Tunnel in particular is a toll facility that links the region with Virginia's Eastern Shore, which carries US 13. Completed in 1964, at over , it is the longest bridge-tunnel in the world. Two tunnels and numerous bridges span portions of the Elizabeth River. The James River Bridge, opened in 1928, and rebuilt in the 1970s, spans the James River near its mouth and north of the Monitor–Merrimac Memorial Bridge–Tunnel.

Virginia has many crossings of its rivers and waterways. Listed alphabetically, some of the larger named crossings include:

14th Street Bridge (I-395) (across Potomac River) American Legion Memorial Bridge on I-495 across Potomac River Arland D. Williams Jr. Memorial Bridge (part of the 14th St bridge complex, across Potomac River) Berkley Bridge on I-264 at Elizabeth River, Norfolk Boulevard Bridge in Richmond Downtown Tunnel joining Portsmouth and Norfolk Edward E. Willey Bridge (across James River) George P. Coleman Memorial Bridge (across York River) Governor Harry W. Nice Memorial Bridge (mostly in Maryland) Hampton Roads Bridge–Tunnel (across mouth of Hampton Roads joining cities of Hampton and Norfolk) James River Bridge (across James River) Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Bridge joining cities of Petersburg and Colonial Heights Midtown Tunnel (joining Portsmouth and Norfolk) Monitor–Merrimac Memorial Bridge–Tunnel (across Hampton Roads between cities of Newport News and Suffolk) Pocahontas Parkway Bridge (across James River) Powhite Parkway Bridge (across James River) Robert E. Lee Memorial Bridge (across James River)