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Transportation in Virginia is by land, sea and air. Virginia 's extensive network of Highway s and Railroad s 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 American s. 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 Wharf s on the River s east 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 Railway s with coal piers on Hampton Roads . In the mid-20th century, Virginia's Henry G. Shirley Memorial Highway in Northern Virginia pioneered HOV and Reversible Traffic Lane s. 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 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 River s 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 Airport s 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 Byway s 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 . 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 57,082 miles of state highways — the third largest system in the United States , after Texas and North Carolina . Interstate highways Virginia has an extensive network of Interstate Highway s.
TRIVIA Virginia State Highways 785 and 895 are the currently the only primary routes with numbers higher than 599, in order to match future interstate numbering designations. U.S. Highways Major U.S. highways in Virginia include:
State highways Virginia has state highways and secondary routes, some of which are state-designated Virginia byways. A partial listing of Virginia State Highways include:
National Parkways Several national parkways are located in Virginia. These include: 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 56 miles 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 Richmond The Richmond area does not officially have a beltway. However, it has two roads which effectively form portions of a beltway, although they do not completely encircle Richmond. These are Interstate 295 in the northwest, northern, and eastern portions, and Virginia State Highway 288 in the southwest and western areas. Bypasses Many urban areas in Virginia have roads which form Bypass es of the central portions. In some cases, semi-circumferential roadways exist, such as Virginia State Highway 37 in the Winchester area, and Virginia State Highway 199 in the Williamsburg and Historic Triangle area. River and waterway crossings Major bridges, tunnels, and bridge-tunnels The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel , a Toll facility which links the region with Virginia's Eastern Shore which carries US 13 . Completed in 1964 , at over 17 miles, it is the longest Bridge-tunnel in the world. Virginia has many crossings of its rivers and waterways. Listed alphabetically, the named crossings include:
Ferry system The Jamestown Ferry (also known as the Jamestown-Scotland Ferry) is an automobile Ferry system on the James River connecting Jamestown in James City County with Scotland in Surry County . It carries Virginia State Highway 31 . Operated by VDOT , it is the only 24-hour state-run ferry operation in Virginia and has over 90 employees. It operates four ferryboats, the ''Pocahontas'', the ''Williamsburg'', the ''Surry'', and the ''Virginia''. The facility is toll-free. LOCAL PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION Transit bus and paratransit systems Virginia has a number of publicly-funded providers of Transit Bus and Paratransit services. They include:
Light rail, bus rapid transit, maglev projects Although no services of these types are currently operational, Light Rail service is in planning stages at Norfolk and Hampton-Newport News. Richmond is working on plans for a Heritage Streetcar System . The resort city of Virginia Beach is considering a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system similar that in use in Las Vegas . There is a small very experimental maglev project under development on campus at Old Dominion University in Norfolk. Commuter rail, subway Commuters in Northern Virginia have access to Virginia Railway Express (VRE) with suburban commuter rail service on lines south to Fredericksburg, and southwest to Manassas. The Washington Metro subway system operated by WMATA has lines in Northern Virginia as far west as the City Of Fairfax . INTERCITY BUS SERVICES Intercity bus service is provided by Greyhound Lines and Carolina Trailways . RAILROADS Passenger rail Virginia is served by passenger rail service provided by Amtrak . The Department of Rail and Public Transportation of the State of Virginia has studies underway for extending high speed passenger rail service to the Virginia Peninsula and South Hampton Roads areas, as well as a rail connections in Virginia to both the Northeast Corridor and the Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor . The Transdominion Express would serve a large portion of the south central regions of the state. Freight railroads Virginia is served by major Class I Railroad s Norfolk Southern and CSX . There are dozens of Short Line Railroad s, including the Buckingham Branch Railroad , the state's largest. Norfolk Southern, a Fortune 500 company, has its headquarters in Norfolk. AIR Virginia is served by a number of major commercial Airport s. These include:
PORTS AND WATERWAYS Hampton Roads has become known as the "world's greatest natural harbor". The port is located only 18 miles from open ocean on one of the world's deepest, natural ice-free harbors. Since 1989 , Hampton Roads has been the mid-Atlantic leader in U.S. waterborne foreign commerce and is ranked second nationally behind the Port Of South Louisiana based on export tonnage. When import and export tonnage are combined, the Port Of Hampton Roads ranks as the third largest port in the country (following the ports of New Orleans/South Louisiana and Houston. In 1996 , Hampton Roads was ranked ninth among major U.S. ports in vessel port calls with approximately 2,700. In addition, this port is the U.S. leader in coal exports. The coal loading facilities in the Port of Hampton Roads are able to load in excess of 65 million tons annually, giving the port the largest, most efficient and modern coal loading facilities in the world. The Hampton Roads region's economic base is largely port-related, including shipbuilding, ship repair, naval installations, cargo transfer and storage, and manufacturing related to the processing of imports and exports. Associated with the ports' military role are almost 50,000 federal civilian employees. The harbor of Hampton Roads is an important highway of commerce, especially for the cities of Norfolk , Portsmouth , and Newport News . In Portsmouth, a few miles up the Elizabeth River, Norfolk Naval Shipyard is located. Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company is located a short distance up the James River . There are also several smaller shipyards, numerous docks and terminals. Massive Coal loading piers and facilities were established in the late 19th and early 20th century by the Chesapeake And Ohio Railway (C&O), Norfolk And Western Railway (N&W), and Virginian Railway (VGN). The latter two were predecessors of the Norfolk Southern Railway , a Class I Railroad which has its headquarters in Norfolk, and continues to export coal from a large facility at Lambert's Point on the Elizabeth River. CSX Transportation now serves the former C&O facility at Newport News. Virginia has extensive waterways. In addition to the lower portion of the Chesapeake Bay and the harbor of Hampton Roads, navigable rivers include: The Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway passes through eastern Virginia. The state operates an Inland Port facility near Front Royal . EXTERNAL LINKS
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