State Route 70 (SR 70) is a primary

state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...

in Lee County, Virginia, running from the

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

state line to

U.S. Route 58 U.S. Route 58 (US 58) is an east–west U.S. Highway that runs for from U.S. Route 25E just northwest of Harrogate, Tennessee, to U.S. Route 60 in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Until 1996, when the Cumberland Gap Tunnel opened, US 58 ran only ...

in Jonesville. Its continuation in Tennessee, also numbered State Route 70, continues south to the

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

state line at North Carolina Highway 208.

Route description

SR 70 begins at the Tennessee state line in the valley formed by Blackwater Creek. It follows that creek past Blackwater, but soon leaves it to ascend

Powell Mountain Powell Mountain (or "Powells Mountain") is a mountain ridge of the Ridge-and-valley Appalachians of the Appalachian Mountains. It is a long and narrow ridge, running northeast to southwest, from about Norton, Virginia to near Tazewell, Tennessee ...

, which it crosses at Hunter Gap. SR 70 comes down off that mountain and then rises again, crossing Wallen Ridge before descending again and crossing the Powell River on Sewell Bridge. From there it heads north across a relatively flat area, ending at US 58 in the eastern part of Jonesville.

History

The road from Jonesville south via Blackwater to Tennessee was part of the Trail of the Lonesome Pine, an

auto trail The system of auto trails was an informal network of marked routes that existed in the United States and Canada in the early part of the 20th century. Marked with colored bands on utility poles, the trails were intended to help travellers in ...

from

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. In 1924, a group of citizens from far western Virginia appeared before the State Highway Commission, asking them to take it over as a state highway. A member of the

Tennessee Legislature The Tennessee General Assembly (TNGA) is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is a part-time bicameral legislature consisting of a Senate and a House of Representatives. The Speaker of the Senate carries the additional title ...

stated that be was sure that it would be designated a state highway in Tennessee if Virginia took over their part. The northernmost two miles (3 km) were added later in 1924 as SR 1010, and a further 8 miles (13 km) were added in 1927. SR 1010 was renumbered to SR 103 in the 1928 renumbering, and the final 3.5-mile (5.5 km) piece from Blackwater to Tennessee was added that year. In the 1933 renumbering, SR 103 south of Jonesville was combined with the remaining piece of SR 11, which ran from Jonesville northeast to

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

along present

U.S. Route 58 Alternate U.S. Route 58 Alternate (US 58 Alt.) is a alternate route to US 58 in western Virginia. The route is a northern bypass to US 58 which stays closer to the Tennessee border and serves Gate City and Bristol. Route description Jonesville to Norton ...

(and its old alignments) and SR 71, to form State Route 64. (SR 11 had continued to Bluefield, West Virginia along

US 19 U.S. Route 19 (US 19) is a north–south U.S. Highway in the Eastern United States. Despite encroaching Interstate Highways, the route has remained a long-haul road, connecting the Gulf of Mexico with Lake Erie. The highway's southern ...

.) In late 1940, most of SR 64 was renumbered as SR 70, running from Tennessee to St. Paul, to match Tennessee's SR 70. North of St. Paul, SR 64 replaced the former SR 70 (now SR 63), while SR 64 remained on its old alignment from St. Paul southeast to Dickensonville, and switched places with SR 71 to end at Hansonville. Additionally, while SR 64 had gone from Pennington Gap towards

Big Stone Gap Big Stone Gap is a town in Wise County, Virginia, United States. The town was economically centered around the coal industry for much of its early development. The population was 5,643 at the 2010 census. History The community was formerly kno ...

via Woodway, the new SR 70 replaced SR 66 via Dryden; the old SR 64 from Woodway towards Big Stone Gap became SR 65. US 58 Alt. was formed in the early 1950s, and replaced all of SR 70 east of Jonesville, truncating it to its current length. In 1954, SR 70 became a secondary route, SR 798, over objections. It was added back to the primary system in 1962, after being reconstructed, including the building of a new bridge over the Powell River.

Major intersections

References

External links

Virginia Highways Project: VA 70
{{end box 070 State Route 070