U.S. Route 52 in Virginia

U.S. Route 52
Route information
Maintained by VADOT
Length:	85 mi (137 km)
Existed:	mid-1930s – present
Major junctions
South end:	US 52 near Mount Airy, NC
	US 58 in Hillsville US 21 in Wytheville
North end:	I‑77 / US 52 near Bluefield, WV
Highway system
United States Numbered Highways List Bannered Divided Replaced Virginia Routes Interstate U.S. Primary Secondary Byways History Turnpikes ← SR 51 SR 53 →

U.S. Route 52 in Virginia runs north–south through the southwestern part of the state along the Interstate 77 corridor. Though an even-numbered U.S. route, it is signed north–south in Virginia (standard convention being to label even-numbered U.S. routes with east–west designations). In some other states along its route, it is signed east–west. The Virginia segment is signed such that U.S. 52 north corresponds to the general westward direction of the highway, and vice versa.

Route description

U.S. 52 enters Virginia from West Virginia, and in Virginia closely follows Interstate 77. It enters southwestern Virginia near Bluefield and passes through Wytheville and Hillsville before leaving the state south of Cana.

History

The piece of US 52 south of Fort Chiswell was part of the state highway system defined in 1918.^[1] It was initially designated State Route 12-Z, at least south of Hillsville,^[2] but by 1924 it was State Route 15.^[3] In 1926, the U.S. Route 121 designation was applied to the whole length of SR 15, from North Carolina to Fort Chiswell, but it did not turn west on U.S. Route 11 at Fort Chiswell to connect to U.S. Route 21.^[4][5]

An extension of SR 15 from Fort Chiswell north to Max Meadows was added to the state highway system in 1931.^[6] In the 1933 renumbering, SR 15 was dropped from the US 121 concurrency, while the short extension to Max Meadows became State Route 121.

US 121 was absorbed by an extension of US 52 by 1935. US 52 was extended through West Virginia and along U.S. Route 21 to Wytheville and U.S. Route 11 to Fort Chiswell, where it replaced US 121 into North Carolina.^[7]

Major intersections

County	Location	mi[8]	km	Destinations	Notes
Carroll				US 52 south – Mt. Airy, Winston-Salem	North Carolina state line
	Fancy Gap			Blue Ridge Parkway	interchange
		9.42	15.16	SR 148 west (Chances Creek Road) to I‑77 / SR 775 – Wytheville, Charlotte
	Hillsville			US 58	interchange
		16.43	26.44	US 58 Bus. / US 221 (Stuart Drive) to SR 100 / I‑77 – Galax, Floyd
Wythe	Poplar Camp			SR 69 west (Lead Mine Road) to I‑77 – Austinville, Hillsville, Charlotte
	Farmers Store			SR 94 south (Ivanhoe Road) – Ivanhoe, Fries, Big Survey Wildlife Management Area
	Fort Chiswell	34.67	55.80	I‑77 south / I‑81 north / US 11 north / SR 121 north (Max Meadows Road) – Max Meadows, Charlotte, NC, Roanoke	south end of I-77 / I-81 / US 11 overlap; US 52 south follows exit 80
	see I-81
	Wytheville	43.56	70.10	I‑81 south / US 21 south (North 4th Street) – Bristol, Wytheville, Wytheville Community College	north end of I-81 overlap; US 52 north follows exit 70
	Favonia			SR 680 (Black Lick Road) – Rural Retreat	former SR 90 south
Bland		59.62	95.95	SR 42 west (West Blue Grass Trail) – Broadford, Saltville	south end of SR 42 overlap
		63.59	102.34	I‑77 – Bluefield, Wytheville	I-77 exit 52
	Bland			SR 98 south (Main Street) / SR 1007 (Jefferson Street) – Bland CH
		64.50	103.80	SR 42 east (East Blue Grass Trail) – Poplar Hill	north end of SR 42 overlap
		77.27	124.35	SR 61 west (Clear Fork Creek Road) – Tazewell	south end of SR 61 overlap
		77.33	124.45	I‑77 – Bluefield, Wytheville	I-77 exit 64
	Rocky Gap	77.73	125.09	SR 61 east (Wolf Creek Highway) – Narrows	north end of SR 61 overlap
		79.92	128.62	I‑77 south / SR 598 north – Bluefield, Wytheville	south end of I-77 overlap; US 52 south follows exit 66
		80.62	129.75	I‑77 north / US 52 north – Beckley	West Virginia state line (East River Mountain Tunnel through East River Mountain)
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

References

Route map: Bing / Google

1. State Highway Commission of Virginia (July 5, 1922). Minutes of the First Meeting of the State Highway Commission Created Under the Acts of 1922 (PDF) (Report). Richmond, VA: Commonwealth of Virginia., Proposed "State Highway System" for Virginia, as Recommended by the State Roads Committee, January 1918
2. State Highway Commission of Virginia (November 8–11, 1922). Minutes of the Fifth Meeting of the State Highway Commission (PDF) (Report). Richmond, VA: Commonwealth of Virginia., page 11
3. State Highway Commission of Virginia (April 10–11, 1924). Minutes of Meeting (PDF) (Report). Richmond, VA: Commonwealth of Virginia., pages 12-13
4. Bureau of Public Roads & American Association of State Highway Officials (November 11, 1926). United States System of Highways Adopted for Uniform Marking by the American Association of State Highway Officials (Map). 1:7,000,000. Washington, DC: U.S. Geological Survey. OCLC 32889555. Retrieved November 7, 2013 – via University of North Texas Libraries.
5. United States Numbered Highways, American Highways, April 1927
6. State Highway Commission of Virginia (July 24–25, 1931). Minutes of Meeting (PDF) (Report). Virginia Beach, VA: Commonwealth of Virginia., page 70
7. Richard F. Weingroff, U.S. 52 Charleston, South Carolina, to Portal, North Dakota
8. "Daily Traffic Volume Estimates Jurisdiction Report: Carroll County" (PDF). Virginia Department of Transportation. 2009. Retrieved 2011-06-15.
   "Daily Traffic Volume Estimates Jurisdiction Report: Wythe County" (PDF). Virginia Department of Transportation. 2009. Retrieved 2011-06-15.
   "Daily Traffic Volume Estimates Jurisdiction Report: Bland County" (PDF). Virginia Department of Transportation. 2009. Retrieved 2011-06-15.

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