State Route 169 (SR 169) is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. The state highway runs from

Interstate 64 Interstate 64 (I-64) is an east–west Interstate Highway in the Eastern United States. Its western terminus is at I-70, U.S. Route 40 (US 40), and US 61 in Wentzville, Missouri. Its eastern terminus is at an interchang ...

(I-64) and U.S. Route 60 (US 60) to

US 258 U.S. Route 258 (US 258) is a spur of US 58 in the U.S. states of North Carolina and Virginia. The U.S. Highway runs from US 17 Business and NC 24 Business in Jacksonville, North Carolina north to Virginia State Route 143 (SR 143) at Fort M ...

within the

independent city An independent city or independent town is a city or town that does not form part of another general-purpose local government entity (such as a province). Historical precursors In the Holy Roman Empire, and to a degree in its successor states ...

Hampton Hampton may refer to: Places Australia *Hampton bioregion, an IBRA biogeographic region in Western Australia *Hampton, New South Wales *Hampton, Queensland, a town in the Toowoomba Region * Hampton, Victoria Canada * Hampton, New Brunswick *Ha ...

. SR 169 is a C-shaped route that connects the Hampton neighborhoods of

Phoebus Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...

Buckroe Beach Buckroe Beach is a neighborhood in the independent city of Hampton, Virginia. It lies just north of Fort Monroe on the Chesapeake Bay. One of the oldest recreational areas in the state, it was long located in Elizabeth City County near the downt ...

, and Fox Hill.

Route description

SR 169 begins at the highway's partial cloverleaf interchange with I-64 and US 60 (Hampton Roads Beltway) just north of the

Hampton Roads Bridge–Tunnel The Hampton Roads Bridge–Tunnel (HRBT) is a -long Hampton Roads crossing for Interstate 64 and U.S. Route 60. It is a four-lane facility comprising bridges, trestles, man-made islands, and tunnels under the main shipping channels for Hampto ...

. The road continues west onto the campus of the Hampton VA Hospital. SR 169 heads east as two-lane undivided Mallory Street into the Phoebus neighborhood of Hampton, where the highway intersects SR 143 (Mellen Street) and US 258 (Mercury Boulevard). Both highways provide access to

Fort Monroe Fort Monroe, managed by partnership between the Fort Monroe Authority for the Commonwealth of Virginia, the National Park Service as the Fort Monroe National Monument, and the City of Hampton, is a former military installation in Hampton, Virgi ...

. From US 258, SR 169 heads northeast as a four-lane

divided highway A dual carriageway ( BE) or divided highway ( AE) is a class of highway with carriageways for traffic travelling in opposite directions separated by a central reservation (BrE) or median (AmE). Roads with two or more carriageways which are ...

to the Buckroe Beach neighborhood. Next to Buckroe Park, the state highway intersects SR 351 (Pembroke Avenue). SR 169 turns west and runs concurrently with SR 351 on two-lane undivided Pembroke Avenue before turning northeast onto Old Buckroe Road. The state highway follows the two-lane road to the southern edge of the Fox Hill neighborhood, where the highway turns west onto Fox Hill Road. SR 169 follows the four-lane undivided highway west and then southwest through several neighborhoods to its northern terminus at US 258 (Mercury Boulevard).

History

The road from State Route 9 (now State Route 143), at the intersection of County and Mallory Streets in

, northeast along Mallory Street (then the Mill Creek Road) to the intersection of Point Comfort Avenue and Resort Boulevard at

, was added to the state highway system in 1923 as State Route 394 (a spur of State Route 39, renumbered from SR 9). In the 1928 renumbering, SR 394 became State Route 512, and in the 1933 renumbering it became State Route 169. In 1934, a loop at Buckroe Beach was added to SR 169, running north on Resort Boulevard, west on Buckroe Avenue, and south on Mallory Street. In addition to this loop, SR 169 was extended north and west from Buckroe Beach in 1966, running west on State Route 351 (Pembroke Avenue) and then replacing part of what had been State Route 167 on Old Buckroe Road and Fox Hill Road, ending at State Route 278 (King Street) just north of U.S. Route 258 (

Mercury Boulevard Mercury Boulevard in the cities of Hampton and Newport News in the Peninsula region of southeastern Virginia carries U.S. Route 258 (US 258) approximately south from Fort Monroe at Old Point Comfort on Hampton Roads to the north end o ...

). The loop was removed in 1975, leaving only the Mallory Street-Pembroke Alignment at Buckroe Beach. Fox Hill Road has since been realigned to meet US 258 east of SR 278. At the Phoebus end, SR 169 was extended southwest along Mallory Street to Mellen Street, a single block extra, in 1979, due to a realignment of State Route 143. SR 169 has never officially extended further along Mallory Street to

near the Veterans Administration, despite Hampton requesting said extension in 1948 and this extension being signed on I-64. In September 2019, the section of SR 169 from SR 351 to US 258 in Phoebus was given to the city of Hampton, creating a gap in the route. So far, there has been no announcement of renumbering one of the two remaining sections of the road.

Major intersections

References

External links

Virginia Highways Project: VA 169
{{end box 169 State Route 169