A history of roads in Virginia: Changing concepts

In the heavily populated suburbs of Northern Virginia, special lanes of I-95 (now I-395) were reserved
for express buses in 1969.

By the 1970s, Virginia was a rapidly urbanizing state. Its population had grown to more than 4.6 million, with two-thirds living in cities, towns, and suburbs.

Motor vehicle registration had risen to more than 2.5 million. Between 1960 and 1970, travel on the state’s highway system had increased more than 65 percent, and on an average weekday, motorists drove 75 million miles on Virginia’s highways and streets. The two-car family had become commonplace, and driving was described as the nation’s leading form of outdoor recreation.

Years before, agriculture had begun its decline as the principal  foundation of the state’s economy, although it remained of major importance. New and expanding industries occupied an increasingly vital role in the economic base.

In a December 1971 report to the Virginia Advisory Legislative Council, the General Assembly’s continuing study arm, the Highway Commission said that “much remains to be done in order to provide Virginians with what truly may be considered an adequate, statewide transportation system.”

The council continued, “In every county, city, and town, there are substandard facilities. Throughout Virginia, there remains thousands of miles of roads and hundreds of bridges constructed more than 40 years ago. They were satisfactory for the uses they were built to serve; they are far from satisfactory for the demands of the 1970s, and for those of the years beyond,” the commission said.

Commissioner Fugate, writing in the April 1970 issue of the Eno Foundation’s Traffic Quarterly, had discussed the changing highway concepts involved in solving such a problem:

“We should not be particularly surprised that transportation planning requirements differ from those of even a decade ago,” he wrote. “For in many respects the nation’s people differ — there are far more of them, they tend in growing numbers to congregate in and around the cities, they tend to be more affluent; and they have a new concern for all aspects of the environment in which they live. Thus, it is no longer sufficient to examine highway proposals solely from such standpoints as traffic service, economics, and engineering feasibility. An entirely new range of considerations has developed, and must be accepted by those responsible for the highway program.

“Such matters as the social impact of highways, environmental enhancement, and pollution are becoming integral elements in the highway planning process. Similarly, in urban regions, attention must be focused more extensively on utilizing the highway as an artery for mass transportation, and on fresh concepts concerned more with moving people than with moving vehicles. Any notions of a comfortable philosophy based on the belief that every problem has a formula for solution and that every decision can be made in conformity with established policy must be forsaken, if indeed they still exist,” the commissioner wrote. “We must greatly broaden our concepts of the highway’s role in an increasingly urban society.”

In the heavily populated Northern Virginia suburbs of the District of Columbia, special lanes of Interstate 95, the old Shirley Highway, were reserved for express buses. Commuters were encouraged to leave their cars behind and use the bus to reduce congestion. It represented the nation’s first experience with setting aside lanes of interstate highway for buses, and its results were impressive. In barely more than three years, more commuters were riding buses than were driving their personal cars during the morning rush hours.

The success of the Shirley “busway,” coupled with increased traffic congestion, led highway officials to allow private vehicles to use the reserved travel lanes as long as they were carrying four or more passengers.

In Southwest Virginia, the challenges were different from those in the highly urbanized regions of the state. In July 1972, hundreds gathered to observe the opening of the Big Walker Mountain Tunnel on Interstate 77. The tunnel, carved through the Appalachian range in Bland County, was heralded as the beginning of a new and prosperous era for the citizens of Southwest Virginia.

Two and a half years later, on Dec. 20, 1974, a second mountain tunnel was completed. The East River Mountain Tunnel, which routes 1-77 traffic through the mountain between Bland County, Virginia, and Mercer County, West Virginia, was built cooperatively by the two states.

Increasingly, the planning function of highway administrators and engineers was changing vastly as society itself sought to adjust to the needs and desires of the expanding, more urbanized population.

More and more, highway planning was related to total community goals. The days of muddy roads, of inadequate technology and equipment, and of neglected maintenance had passed. A modern highway system permitted improved mobility and traffic safety. But there were new challenges to replace the old ones, including those brought about by events happening halfway across the world.

Produced by the
Virginia Department of Transportation
Office of Public Affairs
1401 E. Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23219
VirginiaDOT.org