State Route 71 (SR 71) 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 the southwest part of the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...
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 ...
. It runs from
Gate City 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 ...
, mostly through river valleys. Despite running more east–west than north–south, it is signed north–south; it parallels the similarly-oriented
U.S. Route 11
{{Infobox road
, country=USA
, type=US
, route=11
, map={{maplink, frame=yes, plain=yes, frame-align=center, frame-width=290, frame-height=330, type=line, from=U.S. Route 11.map
, map_custom=yes
, map_notes=US 11 in red, US 11E in blue, US 11W in ...
and
Interstate 81
Interstate 81 (I-81) is a north–south (physically northeast–southwest) Interstate Highway in the eastern part of the United States. Its southern terminus is at I-40 in Dandridge, Tennessee; its northern terminus is on Wellesley Island ...
.
Route description
SR 71 begins in Gate City,
Scott County where
U.S. Routes 23/58/421 Business leaves Jackson Street to head southeast through
Moccasin Gap
Moccasin Gap, also known as Big Moccasin Gap, is a pass in Clinch Mountain, a long ridge within the Appalachian Mountains, at Gate City, Virginia.
This gap has a long history as a passageway through the mountain. It was used by the Cherokee and S ...
. It runs in a general east-northeasterly direction, soon joining
Big Moccasin Creek
Big or BIG may refer to:
* Big, of great size or degree
Film and television
* ''Big'' (film), a 1988 fantasy-comedy film starring Tom Hanks
* ''Big!'', a Discovery Channel television show
* ''Richard Hammond's Big'', a television show presente ...
. The road and creek run through the
Moccasin Valley past Slabtown (where
SR 72 begins) to
Snowflake
A snowflake is a single ice crystal that has achieved a sufficient size, and may have amalgamated with others, which falls through the Earth's atmosphere as snow.Knight, C.; Knight, N. (1973). Snow crystals. Scientific American, vol. 228, no. ...
, where SR 71 leaves the creek to cross
Moccasin Ridge
A moccasin is a shoe, made of deerskin or other soft leather, consisting of a sole (made with leather that has not been "worked") and sides made of one piece of leather, stitched together at the top, and sometimes with a vamp (additional panel o ...
. SR 71 leaves the ridge at
Dorton Fort and enters the valley formed by
Copper Creek, running past
Nickelsville.
SR 71 continues in
Russell County in a general east-northeasterly direction past
Grassy Creek to
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 ...
at
Parsonage
A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of religion. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, parsonage, rectory or vicarage.
Function
A clergy house is typically own ...
. The routes
overlap
Overlap may refer to:
* In set theory, an overlap of elements shared between sets is called an intersection, as in a Venn diagram.
* In music theory, overlap is a synonym for reinterpretation of a chord at the boundary of two musical phrases
* Ove ...
to
Dickensonville, where SR 71 splits, continuing to follow Copper Creek to near its source, passing over a small summit, and then following small creeks to its end at
US 19 Bus. in Lebanon.
[
]
History
Most of present SR 71, from SR 11 (now US 58 Alt.) at Parsonage southwest to about from Gate City, was added to the state highway system in 1928 as SR 107; the final were added the next year. In the 1933 renumbering, SR 107 was renumbered SR 71 and extended east from Parsonage along former SR 11 (renumbered SR 64 then) to Dickensonville, replacing the former SR 110 from there to 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 ...
at Hansonville.[Virginia Highways Project: VA 71]
/ref> As part of the 1940 renumbering, which coordinated numbers with adjacent states, SR 64 and SR 71 were swapped east of Dickensonville, giving SR 71 its present terminus at Lebanon.
Major intersections
References
External links
Virginia Highways Project: VA 71
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071
State Route 071
State Route 071