Transportation in the Commonwealth of Virginia is by land, sea and air.

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 ...

's extensive network of

highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-access ...

s and

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

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 Americans.

History

Colonial period, 19th century

During the colonial period, the

Virginia Colony The Colony of Virginia, chartered in 1606 and settled in 1607, was the first enduring English colonial empire, English colony in North America, following failed attempts at settlement on Newfoundland (island), Newfoundland by Sir Humphrey GilbertG ...

was dependent upon the waterways as avenues of commerce, and

James River Plantations James River plantations were established in the Virginia Colony along the James River between the mouth at Hampton Roads and the head of navigation at the Fall Line where Richmond is today. History The colony struggled for five years after its es ...

such as

John Rolfe John Rolfe (1585 – March 1622) was one of the early English settlers of North America. He is credited with the first successful cultivation of tobacco as an export crop in the Colony of Virginia in 1611. Biography John Rolfe is believed ...

Varina Farms Varina Farms, also known as Varina Plantation or Varina Farms Plantation or Varina on the James, is a plantations in the American South, plantation established in the 17th century on the James River (Virginia), James River about south of Richmo ...

with their own

wharf A wharf, quay (, also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more berths (mooring locatio ...

s on the

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

s of the

Fall Line A fall line (or fall zone) is the area where an upland region and a coastal plain meet and is typically prominent where rivers cross it, with resulting rapids or waterfalls. The uplands are relatively hard crystalline basement rock, and the coa ...

(at present-day

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

were soon shipping

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

and other

export An export in international trade is a good produced in one country that is sold into another country or a service provided in one country for a national or resident of another country. The seller of such goods or the service provider is an ...

crops abroad. Other important navigable rivers in this period were the

Elizabeth Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist Ships * HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships * ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

, and Potomac. By the 19th century, the

Virginia Board of Public Works The Virginia Board of Public Works was a governmental agency which oversaw and helped finance the development of Virginia's transportation-related internal improvements during the 19th century. In that era, it was customary to invest public funds ...

was funding transportation infrastructure improvements, stimulating such private enterprises as the

James River and Kanawha Canal The James River and Kanawha Canal was a partially built canal in Virginia intended to facilitate shipments of passengers and freight by water between the western counties of Virginia and the coast. Ultimately its towpath became the roadbed for a ...

, the

Chesterfield Railroad The Chesterfield Railroad was located in Chesterfield County, Virginia. It was a long mule-and-gravity powered line that connected the Midlothian coal mines with wharves that were located at the head of navigation on the James River just below th ...

, and the

Valley Turnpike Valley Pike or Valley Turnpike is the traditional name given for the Indian trail and roadway which now approximates as U.S. Route 11 in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Long before the arrival of English colonists, Native Americans of the Del ...

Claudius Crozet Claude "Claudius" Crozet (December 31, 1789 – January 29, 1864) was a soldier, educator, and civil engineer. Crozet was born in France and trained as an artillery officer and civil engineer. After the defeat of Napoleon's army, he emigrated t ...

's innovative tunnels under the

Blue Ridge Mountains The Blue Ridge Mountains are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains range. The mountain range is located in the Eastern United States, and extends 550 miles southwest from southern Pennsylvania through Maryland, West Virgin ...

were a key link in

Collis P. Huntington Collis Potter Huntington (October 22, 1821 – August 13, 1900) was an American industrialist and railway magnate. He was one of the Big Four of western railroading (along with Leland Stanford, Mark Hopkins, and Charles Crocker) who invested ...

's railroad linking Virginia to the

Ohio River Valley The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illinoi ...

in 1873. Soon thereafter, Pocahontas coal was riding the rails from the mountains eastbound for export via the Chesapeake and Ohio,

Norfolk and Western The Norfolk and Western Railway , commonly called the N&W, was a US class I railroad, formed by more than 200 railroad mergers between 1838 and 1982. It was headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia, for most of its existence. Its motto was "Precisio ...

and

Virginian Railway The Virginian Railway was a Class I railroad located in Virginia and West Virginia in the United States. The VGN was created to transport high quality "smokeless" bituminous coal from southern West Virginia to port at Hampton Roads. History ...

s with coal piers on

Hampton Roads Hampton Roads is the name of both a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James River, James, Nansemond River, Nansemond and Elizabeth River (Virginia), Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's ...

20th-21st centuries

With urging from the state chapter founded in Roanoke in 1894 of the National Good Roads Movement, in 1906 the

Virginia General Assembly The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, the first elected legislative assembly in the New World, and was established on July 30, 161 ...

created the first State Highway Commission. In 1932, the state's role was expanded when the provisions of the

Byrd Road Act The Byrd Road Act was an Act of Assembly passed in February 1932 by the Virginia General Assembly. Named for former Governor Harry F. Byrd, the legislation was originally presented as measure to relieve the financial pressures of the Great Depressi ...

during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

brought most secondary roads in the counties into the scope of state control and maintenance. In the mid-20th century, Virginia's

Henry G. Shirley Memorial Highway The Henry G. Shirley Memorial Highway, often shortened to Shirley Highway, consists of a portion of Interstates 95 and 395 in the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. Shirley Highway was the first limited-access freeway in Virginia. Begun in 1941, th ...

Northern Virginia Northern Virginia, locally referred to as NOVA or NoVA, comprises several counties and independent cities in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. It is a widespread region radiating westward and southward from Washington, D.C. Wit ...

pioneered

HOV A high-occupancy vehicle lane (also known as an HOV lane, carpool lane, diamond lane, 2+ lane, and transit lane or T2 or T3 lanes) is a restricted traffic lane reserved for the exclusive use of vehicles with a driver and one or more passengers, i ...

and reversible traffic lanes. Prior to the creation of the

Interstate Highway System The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. Th ...

, Virginia had some other notable roads to handle heavy traffic including

Military Highway Military Highway is a four-to-eight-lane roadway built in the South Hampton Roads region of eastern Virginia, USA during World War II. Carrying US 13 for most of its length, it also carries US 58, and US 460 while in Chesapeake. It is a major alt ...

South Hampton Roads South Hampton Roads is a region located in the extreme southeastern portion of Virginia's Tidewater region in the United States with a total population of 1,191,937. It is part of the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC MSA (Metropolitan St ...

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 ...

on the

Virginia Peninsula The Virginia Peninsula is a peninsula in southeast Virginia, USA, bounded by the York River, James River, Hampton Roads and Chesapeake Bay. It is sometimes known as the ''Lower Peninsula'' to distinguish it from two other peninsulas to the ...

, and State Route 168, which extended from west of Williamsburg to the North Carolina border near the eastern edge of the

Great Dismal Swamp The Great Dismal Swamp is a large swamp in the Coastal Plain Region of southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina, between Norfolk, Virginia, and Elizabeth City, North Carolina. It is located in parts of the southern Virginia inde ...

, including

Tidewater Drive State Route 168 is a primary state highway in the South Hampton Roads region of the U.S. state of Virginia. It runs from the border with North Carolina (where it continues as North Carolina Highway 168 towards the Outer Banks) through the indep ...

in the Norfolk area. The

Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike The Greater Richmond Region, the Richmond metropolitan area or Central Virginia, is a region and metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Virginia, centered on Richmond. The U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) defines the area as the Richmo ...

was built to relieve heavy traffic on US1-301 between those two cities. In 1957, The

Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel 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 *Ham ...

, first of its kind, was completed, and was soon incorporated into

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 interchange w ...

. The

Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel Chesapeake often refers to: *Chesapeake people, a Native American tribe also known as the Chesepian * The Chesapeake, a.k.a. Chesapeake Bay *Delmarva Peninsula, also known as the Chesapeake Peninsula Chesapeake may also refer to: Populated plac ...

completed in 1964 is the longest bridge-tunnel in the world. Interstate highways

I-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 ...

and

I-95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the Canadia ...

are some of the busiest roads of commerce on the East Coast. Of course, people and property continue to travel by

ship A ship is a large watercraft that travels the world's oceans and other sufficiently deep waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research, and fishing. Ships are generally distinguished ...

, as the first settlers did. The

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

is accessed by the more sheltered

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the ...

and

, with 5 major

navigable river A body of water, such as a river, canal or lake, is navigable if it is deep, wide and calm enough for a water vessel (e.g. boats) to pass safely. Such a navigable water is called a ''waterway'', and is preferably with few obstructions against dir ...

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 An inland port is a port on an inland waterway, such as a river, lake, or canal, which may or may not be connected to the sea. The term "inland port" is also used to refer to a dry port. Examples The United States Army Corps of Engineers publ ...

in the

Shenandoah Valley The Shenandoah Valley () is a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. The valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the eastern front of the Ridge- ...

. The Wright Brothers are credited with first flight just south of Virginia at

Kitty Hawk, North Carolina Kitty Hawk is a town in Dare County, North Carolina, Dare County, North Carolina, United States, and is a part of what is known as North Carolina's Outer Banks. The population was 3,708 at the United States Census, 2020, 2020 Census. It was establ ...

. Other early flights took place at

Willoughby Spit Willoughby Spit is a peninsula of land in the independent city of Norfolk, Virginia in the United States. It is bordered by water on three sides: the Chesapeake Bay to the north, Hampton Roads to the west, and Willoughby Bay to the south. Hist ...

near Norfolk. In modern times, major commercial

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

s are located around the state, with many additional

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...

facilities. For those who wish to live in the past, at least for a visit, the

Colonial Parkway Colonial Parkway is a scenic parkway linking the three points of Virginia's Historic Triangle, Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown. It is part of the National Park Service's Colonial National Historical Park. Virginia's official state cla ...

, carefully shielded from commercial development, joins

Colonial Williamsburg Colonial Williamsburg is a living-history museum and private foundation presenting a part of the historic district in the city of Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation has 7300 employees at this location and ...

with Yorktown and Jamestown, the three points of the

Historic Triangle The Historic Triangle includes three historic colonial communities located on the Virginia Peninsula of the United States and is bounded by the York River on the north and the James River on the south. The points that form the triangle are James ...

. By riding the toll free

Jamestown Ferry The Jamestown Ferry (also known as the Jamestown-Scotland Ferry) is a free automobile and bus ferry service across a navigable portion of the James River in Virginia. It carries State Route 31, connecting Jamestown in James City County with ...

service across the

James River The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 to Chesapea ...

, it is even possible to arrive at

Jamestown Island Jamestown Island is a island in the James River in Virginia, part of James City County. It is located off Glasshouse Point, to which it is connected via a causeway to the Colonial Parkway. Much of the island is wetland, including both swamp and ...

by water, with a similar view to that of the first colonists. Virginia's

scenic byway A scenic route, tourist road, tourist route, tourist drive, holiday route, theme route, or scenic byway is a specially designated road or waterway that travels through an area of natural or cultural beauty. It often passes by scenic viewpoints ...

s include the

Skyline Drive Skyline Drive is a National Parkway that runs the entire length of the National Park Service's Shenandoah National Park in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, generally along the ridge of the mountains. The drive's northern terminus is at a ...

Shenandoah National Park Shenandoah National Park (often ) is an American national park that encompasses part of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The park is long and narrow, with the Shenandoah River and its broad valley to the west, and the ...

and the

Blue Ridge Parkway The Blue Ridge Parkway is a National Parkway and All-American Road in the United States, noted for its scenic beauty. The parkway, which is America's longest linear park, runs for through 29 Virginia and North Carolina counties, linking Shenand ...

. Even in busy Northern Virginia, a bucolic interlude is available

inside the beltway "Inside the Beltway" is an American idiom used to characterize matters that are, or seem to be, important primarily to officials of the U.S. federal government, to its contractors and lobbyists, and to the media personnel who cover them – as opp ...

on the

George Washington Memorial Parkway The George Washington Memorial Parkway, colloquially the G.W. Parkway, is a parkway that runs along the south bank of the Potomac River from Mount Vernon, Virginia, northwest to McLean, Virginia, and is maintained by the National Park Service ( ...

. The state has literally dozens of other stretches of roads designated as

s, and VDOT distributes a free map showing them.

Highways and bridges

The Virginia State Highway System is an integrated system of roads maintained by the

Virginia Department of Transportation The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) is the agency of the state government responsible for transportation in the state of Virginia in the United States. VDOT is headquartered at the Virginia Department of Highways Building in downtown ...

(VDOT). As of 2005, the VDOT maintains of state highways — the third largest system in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, after

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

and

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 ...

Interstate 95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1, US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between M ...

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 ...

are the two major north-south highways through Virginia. The Capital Beltway, Interstate 495 crosses the Potomac River in Alexandria and

McLean MacLean, also spelt Maclean and McLean, is a Goidelic languages, Gaelic surname Mac Gille Eathain, or, Mac Giolla Eóin in Irish language, Irish Gaelic), Eóin being a Gaelic form of Johannes (John (given name), John). The clan surname is an A ...

. The

Springfield Interchange The Springfield Interchange, also known as the Mixing Bowl, is the interchange of Interstate 95, Interstate 395, and Interstate 495 in Springfield, Virginia, outside of Washington, D.C. The interchange is located at exit 57 on the Capital Beltwa ...

at the junction of I-95,

I-395 Interstate 395 may refer to: *Interstate 395 (Connecticut–Massachusetts), a spur from I-95 to Auburn, Massachusetts *Interstate 395 (Delaware), a proposed portion of I-95 in Delaware, when it was under construction *Interstate 395 (Florida), a spu ...

, and the Capital Beltway, in

Springfield, Virginia Springfield is a census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. The Springfield CDP is recognized by the U.S. Census Bureau with a population of 30,484 as of the 2010 census. Homes and businesses in bordering CDPs includ ...

, south of Washington, D.C. has been reconstructed to improve traffic flow; widening of

Woodrow Wilson Bridge The Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge (also known as the Woodrow Wilson Bridge or the Wilson Bridge) is a bascule bridge that spans the Potomac River between the independent city of Alexandria, Virginia, and Oxon Hill in Prince George's County, M ...

was finished in mid-2008.

Interstate 66 Interstate 66 (I-66) is an east–west Interstate Highway in the eastern United States. It runs from an interchange with I-81 near Middletown, Virginia, on its western end to an interchange with U.S. Route 29 (US 29) in Washingt ...

, another heavily traveled route into Washington, DC, connects the Capital Beltway to I81 at

Front Royal, Virginia Front Royal is the only incorporated town in Warren County, Virginia, United States. The population was 15,011 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Warren County. History The entire Shenandoah Valley including the area to become F ...

runs east-west through the state, from the terminus in Virginia's southeast in

Chesapeake Chesapeake often refers to: *Chesapeake people, a Native American tribe also known as the Chesepian * The Chesapeake, a.k.a. Chesapeake Bay *Delmarva Peninsula, also known as the Chesapeake Peninsula Chesapeake may also refer to: Populated plac ...

running northwest into

, then west through

Charlottesville Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen Cha ...

and into West Virginia and beyond.

Interstate highways

Virginia has an extensive network of

Interstate Highway The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. Th ...

s. The Interstate Highways, totaling in

, are

freeway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...

s designated by the

Federal Highway Administration The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program a ...

and numbered by the

American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) is a standards setting body which publishes specifications, test quality control, protocols, and guidelines that are used in highway design and construction through ...

. They are in a special class with respect to

federal funding In the United States, federal assistance, also known as federal aid, federal benefits, or federal funds, is defined as any federal program, project, service, or activity provided by the federal government that directly assists domestic governmen ...

. These Interstate Highways are as follows: *Major east-west routes (from south) are: **

I-74 } Interstate 74 (I-74) is an Interstate Highway in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. Its western end is at an interchange with I-80 in Davenport, Iowa (Quad Cities); the eastern end of its Midwest segment is at an interchange ...

(planned, not yet built) **

I-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 interchange w ...

I-66 Interstate 66 (I-66) is an east–west Interstate Highway in the eastern United States. It runs from an interchange with I-81 near Middletown, Virginia, on its western end to an interchange with U.S. Route 29 (US 29) in Washingt ...

*Major north-south routes (from west) are: **

I-73 Interstate 73 (I-73) is a north–south Interstate Highway, located within the US state of North Carolina. Currently, there is one continuous section of I-73, totaling , first traversing the U.S. Route 220 (US 220) freeway from ...

(planned, not yet built)) **

I-77 Interstate 77 (I-77) is a north–south Interstate Highway in the eastern United States. It traverses diverse terrain, from the mountainous state of West Virginia to the rolling farmlands of North Carolina and Ohio. It largely supplants the ...

I-85 Interstate 85 (I-85) is a major Interstate Highway in the Southeastern United States. Its southern terminus is at an interchange with Interstate 65, I-65 in Montgomery, Alabama; its northern terminus is an interchange with Interstate 95, I ...

*Three-digit Interstates are: **

I-264 Interstate 264 is the designation for two Interstate Highways in the United States, both of which are related to Interstate 64: *Interstate 264 (Kentucky), a bypass of Louisville, Kentucky *Interstate 264 (Virginia) Interstate 264 (I-264) i ...

I-195 Interstate 195 (I-195) is the designation for the following Interstate Highways in the United States, all of which are related to I-95: *Interstate 195 (District of Columbia), a future designation for the north–south portion of I-395 from the Sout ...

I-295 Interstate 295 is the designation for several Interstate Highways in the United States: *Interstate 295 (Delaware–Pennsylvania), a bypass of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania *Interstate 295 (Florida), a beltway around central Jacksonville *Interstate 29 ...

** I-464 **

I-495 Interstate 495 (I-495) is the designation for several Interstate Highways in the United States, all of which are related to Interstate 95, listed from south to north: * The Capital Beltway, a beltway around Washington, D.C., running through Virgin ...

** I-564 ** I-581 **

I-664 Interstate 664 (I-664) is an auxiliary Interstate Highway in the US state of Virginia. The Interstate runs from Interstate 64 in Virginia, I-64 and Interstate 264 (Virginia), I-264 in Chesapeake, Virginia, Chesapeake north to I-64 in Hamp ...

I-785 Interstate 785 (I-785) is an auxiliary Interstate Highway in the US state of North Carolina. , it is completed through eastern Guilford County, through a concurrency with I-840 along the Greensboro Urban Loop. When completed, it will co ...

(partially built, but currently incomplete and not signed) **Another planned route, I-895 is currently signed as State Route 895 and operated as

toll road A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road (almost always a controlled-access highway in the present day) for which a fee (or ''toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implemented ...

under a public-private financing partnership.

Primary highways

Primary highways, totaling , consist of

U.S. Route The United States Numbered Highway System (often called U.S. Routes or U.S. Highways) is an integrated network of roads and highways numbered within a nationwide grid in the contiguous United States. As the designation and numbering of these hi ...

s, designated and numbered by the

, and primary State Routes, designated and numbered by VDOT.

Alternate Alternative or alternate may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Alternative (''Kamen Rider''), a character in the Japanese TV series ''Kamen Rider Ryuki'' * ''The Alternative'' (film), a 1978 Australian television film * ''The Alternative ...

business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for pr ...

, and bypass

special route In road transportation in the United States, a special route is a road in a numbered highway system that diverts a specific segment of related traffic away from another road. They are featured in many highway systems; most are found in the Int ...

s, as well as wye connections (with a "Y" suffix appended to the number), are all considered primary routes. , revised July 1, 2003 Primary routes are generally given numbers under 600. The two exceptions - State Route 785 and State Route 895 - are numbered as

spurs. Major U.S. highways in Virginia include:

Secondary highways

Virginia has of secondary routes. These roads, numbered 600 and up, receive less funding than primary routes. Numbers are only unique within each county, though routes that cross county lines generally keep their numbers. Under the provisions of the

of 1932, the secondary roads in most of Virginia's counties are maintained by the

, an arrangement that a 1998 study found " unusual among the 50 states." (The study also identified such issues as drainage, speed limits, and planning and coordination of roads with development as those local leaders felt should be within their control). The streets and roads in two counties, Arlington and Henrico, as well as some of the incorporated towns, and all of the independent cities are maintained by the various localities. In the early 21st century, the

was considering legislation to allow some additional counties (most likely those in fast-growing areas) to choose to resume control and care for the secondary highways within their boundaries.

National parkways

Shenandoah SkylineDrive Milemarker103 FallColors

Several national parkways are located in Virginia. These include: *

Beltways and bypasses

Northern Virginia

The

Capital Beltway The Capital Beltway is a Interstate Highway in the Washington metropolitan area that surrounds Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, and its inner suburbs in adjacent Maryland and Virginia. It is the basis of the phrase "inside th ...

circles

Washington D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

through

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, and a tiny edge of the

District of Columbia ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

. The road is signed with Inner Loop and Outer Loop designations.

Hampton Roads

The

Hampton Roads Beltway The Hampton Roads Beltway is a loop of Interstate 64 and Interstate 664, which links the communities of the Virginia Peninsula and South Hampton Roads which surround the body of water known as Hampton Roads and comprise much of the region of the ...

extends 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 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 Hampton ...

between

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= ...

in Hampton and

in Norfolk and the

Monitor–Merrimac Memorial Bridge–Tunnel The Monitor–Merrimac Memorial Bridge–Tunnel (MMMBT) is the 4.6 mile-long (7.4 km) Hampton Roads crossing for Interstate 664 in the southeastern portion of Virginia in the United States. It is a four-lane bridge–tunnel composed of bridges ...

between Newport News and Suffolk. The Beltway connects with another Interstate highway and three arterial U.S. Highways at

Bower's Hill Bower's Hill is a community located in the independent city of Chesapeake, Virginia (formerly Norfolk County) in the United States. It is located in the South Hampton Roads region at the northeastern edge of the Great Dismal Swamp, an area consi ...

near the northeastern edge of the

. The road is signed with Inner Loop and Outer Loop designations. Also in Hampton Roads, the Williamsburg area has State Route 199, a semi-circular limited access roadway also named the Humelsine Parkway, which is sometimes locally referred to as the "Williamsburg Beltway."

Richmond

The

area does not officially have a beltway. However, it has two roads that effectively form portions of a beltway, though they do not completely encircle Richmond. These are Interstate 295 in the northwest, northern, and eastern portions, and State Route 288 in the southwest and western areas.

Staunton

Staunton, Virginia's Staunton Beltway is a freeway-style 5-10 mile beltway highway making a complete circle around the city, except for about where it merges on with Interstate 81. The road is currently a 2 lane road, except for some areas to the far east and far west. In the future, the road will be expanded into a full 4 lane road.

Bypasses

Many urban areas in Virginia have roads that bypass the central portions. In some cases, semi-circumferential roadways exist, such as State Route 37 in the

Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...

area, and State Route 199 in the Williamsburg and

area.

River and waterway crossings

Major bridges, tunnels, and bridge-tunnels

In the Hampton Roads area, there are three bridge-tunnel complexes known as the

, the

, and the

Chesapeake Bay Bridge–Tunnel The Chesapeake Bay Bridge–Tunnel (CBBT, officially the Lucius J. Kellam Jr. Bridge–Tunnel) is a bridge–tunnel that crosses the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay between Delmarva and Hampton Roads in the U.S. state of Virginia. It opened in 19 ...

. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge–Tunnel in particular is a

toll Toll may refer to: Transportation * Toll (fee) a fee charged for the use of a road or waterway ** Road pricing, the modern practice of charging for road use ** Road toll (historic) The road toll was a historical fee charged to travellers and ...

facility that links the region with Virginia's Eastern Shore, which carries US 13. Completed in 1964, at over , it is the longest bridge-tunnel in the world. Two tunnels and numerous bridges span portions of the Elizabeth River. The

James River Bridge The James River Bridge (JRB) is a four-lane divided highway lift bridge across the James River in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Owned and operated by the Virginia Department of Transportation, it carries U.S. Route 17 (US 17), US 258, a ...

, opened in 1928, and rebuilt in the 1970s, spans the

near its mouth and north of the Monitor–Merrimac Memorial Bridge–Tunnel. Virginia has many crossings of its rivers and waterways. Listed alphabetically, some of the larger named crossings include: * 14th Street Bridge (I-395) (across Potomac River) * American Legion Memorial Bridge on I-495 across Potomac River * Arland D. Williams Jr. Memorial Bridge (part of the 14th St bridge complex, across Potomac River) * Berkley Bridge on I-264 at Elizabeth River, Norfolk *

Boulevard Bridge Boulevard Bridge in the independent city of Richmond, Virginia is a toll bridge which carries State Route 161 across the James River. At long, the Boulevard Bridge was completed in 1925. It was privately owned and financed by the Boulevard Brid ...

in Richmond *

Downtown Tunnel The Downtown Tunnel on Interstate 264 (Virginia), Interstate 264 (I-264) and U.S. Route 460 Alternate (Chesapeake–Norfolk, Virginia), U.S. Route 460 Alternate (US 460 Alt.) crosses the Southern Branch Elizabeth River, Southern B ...

joining Portsmouth and Norfolk *

Edward E. Willey Bridge Edward E. Willey Bridge is a highway bridge which crosses the upper James River (above the fall line at Richmond) in the western portion of Henrico County, Virginia. It carries Chippenham Parkway ( State Route 150) between Parham Road in Henri ...

(across James River) * George P. Coleman Memorial Bridge (across York River) * Governor Harry W. Nice Memorial Bridge (mostly in Maryland) *

(across mouth of Hampton Roads joining cities of Hampton and Norfolk) *

(across James River) *

Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Bridge The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Bridge carries U.S. Route 1 and U.S. Route 301 (Jefferson Davis Highway) across the Appomattox River at the Atlantic Seaboard fall line. It joins Colonial Heights and Petersburg, Virginia. Originally constr ...

joining cities of Petersburg and Colonial Heights * Midtown Tunnel (joining Portsmouth and Norfolk) *

(across Hampton Roads between cities of Newport News and Suffolk) * Pocahontas Parkway Bridge (across James River) *

Powhite Parkway Bridge Powhite Parkway Bridge crosses the James River in the independent city of Richmond, Virginia. It carries the Powhite Parkway, also known as Virginia State Route 76. The bridge is owned and maintained by the Richmond Metropolitan Authority, and ...

(across James River) *

Robert E. Lee Memorial Bridge The Robert E. Lee Memorial Bridge in Richmond, Virginia carries U.S. Route 1 and U.S. Route 301 across the James River at the Fall Line. The city acquired the original bridge from Richmond Bridge Corp in 1933, and it was named the James River ...

(across James River) *

Theodore Roosevelt Bridge The Theodore Roosevelt Bridge (also known as the Teddy Roosevelt Bridge or the Roosevelt Bridge) is a bridge crossing the Potomac River which connects Washington, D.C., with the Commonwealth of Virginia. The bridge crosses over Theodore Roosevelt I ...

(mostly in DC) (across Potomac River) *

Varina-Enon Bridge Varina-Enon Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge which carries Interstate 295 across the James River near Dutch Gap between Henrico County near Richmond and Chesterfield County near Hopewell, Virginia. It was opened to traffic in July 1990. The Vari ...

(across James River) *

(mostly in DC and Maryland) * Wilson Creek Bridge (a.k.a. The Smart Road Bridge) * World War II Veterans Memorial Bridge (across James River)

Ferry systems

=Motor vehicle services

The

(also known as the Jamestown-Scotland Ferry) is an automobile

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...

system on the

connecting Jamestown in

James City County James City County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 78,254. Although politically separate from the county, the county seat is the adjacent independent city of Williamsburg. Located ...

with

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

in Surry County. It carries State Route 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. The VDOT operates other toll-free cable-guided ferries: the Merry Point ferry, which crosses the western end of the

Corrotoman River Located in Lancaster County, Virginia, the Corrotoman River is a tributary of the Rappahannock River, flowing into the Chesapeake Bay. Along with its sister waterways, the Corrotoman River has important cultural and historical significance in t ...

in Lancaster County; the Sunnybank Ferry, crossing the

Little Wicomico River The Little Wicomico River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 river in the United States state of Virginia. The river, mostly tidal, flows into Chesapeake ...

in Northumberland County; and the

Hatton Ferry Hatton Ferry is a poled cable ferry located 5.5 miles west of Scottsville, Virginia on the James River. It is the last poled ferry in the United States. The ferry crosses the river upstream of Scottsville between Albemarle County and Buckingham ...

, one of the last two poled ferries in the

=Pedestrian ferry services

= Additionally,

Hampton Roads Transit Hampton Roads Transit (HRT), incorporated on October 1, 1999, began through the voluntary merger of PENTRAN ( Peninsula Transportation District Commission) on the Virginia Peninsula and TRT ( Tidewater Regional Transit a.k.a. Tidewater Transit ...

's Paddlewheel Ferry on the Elizabeth River operates service (no motor vehicles) between

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

and

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

and boasts the world's first

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

-powered pedestrian ferry.

Commuter bus service

Northern Virginia has several commuter bus operations. They include *

Fairfax Connector Fairfax Connector is a public bus service provided by Fairfax County, Virginia, United States, and is managed by the county government. The bus system provides service within Fairfax County, and connects to Metrobus, Metrorail stations, Virgini ...

Loudoun County Commuter Bus Loudoun County Transit is a public-transportation service provided by the Loudoun County, Virginia government. The buses operate from Dulles, Leesburg, and Purcellville to Washington Metro stations as well as directly to Rosslyn, Virginia, Th ...

* QUICKS *

MARTZ Martz may refer to: People *Martz (surname), notable people with the surname *Martz Schmidt (1922–1998), Spanish comics writer and artist Places *Martz (crater), an impact crater on Mars *Martz Observatory, an organization devoted to the a ...

OmniRide Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission (PRTC) is an American public transportation system in Prince William County, Virginia, Stafford County, Virginia, and Spotsylvania County, Virginia, plus two adjacent Independent city (United Sta ...

Shenandoah Valley Commuter Bus The Valley Connector Regional Shuttle and Commuter Bus was a public transportation service provided by S & W Tours, LLC and Valley Connector, Inc. that provided weekday commuter bus service in the United States from northern Shenandoah Valley to No ...

Local public transportation

Transit bus and paratransit systems

Virginia has a number of publicly funded providers of

transit bus Transit may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Transit'' (1979 film), a 1979 Israeli film * ''Transit'' (2005 film), a film produced by MTV and Staying-Alive about four people in countries in the world * ''Transit'' (2006 film), a 2006 ...

and

paratransit Paratransit is the term used in North America, also known by other names such as community transport ( UK) for transportation services that supplement fixed-route mass transit by providing individualized rides without fixed routes or timetables. ...

services. They include:

Subway systems

Subway service is available to residents of

northern Virginia Northern Virginia, locally referred to as NOVA or NoVA, comprises several counties and independent cities in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. It is a widespread region radiating westward and southward from Washington, D.C. Wit ...

. The

Washington Metro The Washington Metro (or simply Metro), formally the Metrorail,Google Books search/preview

connects suburban communities to

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Four lines operate in

: the Silver Line, the Orange Line, the Blue Line, and the Yellow Line.

Light rail and streetcar projects

Light rail service, called The Tide, started full service in

on August 19, 2011. A future extension to the Virginia Beach oceanfront was under consideration until it was voted down in a 2016 city referendum. A study undertaken in 2010 examined the possibility of a rapid transit line along Broad Street in

, for which light rail was considered. Instead, a

Bus Rapid Transit Bus rapid transit (BRT), also called a busway or transitway, is a bus-based public transport system designed to have much more capacity, reliability and other quality features than a conventional bus system. Typically, a BRT system includes ...

option was chosen for its lower capital costs, and the

GRTC Pulse The GRTC Pulse (often abbreviated as The Pulse) is a bus rapid transit line in Richmond, Virginia, United States. The line runs along U.S. Route 250, Broad Street and U.S. Route 33, Main Street in central Richmond, between The Shops at Willow La ...

BRT line opened in 2018.

Intercity bus services

Intercity bus service An intercity bus service (North American English) or intercity coach service (British English and Commonwealth English), also called a long-distance, express, over-the-road, commercial, long-haul, or highway bus or coach service, is a public tr ...

is provided by

Greyhound Lines Greyhound Lines, Inc. (commonly known as simply Greyhound) operates the largest intercity bus service in North America, including Greyhound Mexico. It also operates charter bus services, Amtrak Thruway services, commuter bus services, and pac ...

Megabus Megabus may refer to: *Megabus (Europe), a low-cost coach service with services in Europe owned by ComfortDelGro. *Megabus (North America) Megabus, branded as megabus.com, is an intercity bus service of Coach USA/ Coach Canada operating in the ...

OurBus OurBus Inc. is is a broker for motor carriers of passengers, and arranges for the transportation of passengers. The company offers intercity and commuter bus routes serving cities in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virgini ...

, and a few

Chinatown bus lines Chinatown bus lines are discount intercity bus services, often operated by Chinese Americans. They have been established primarily in the Chinatown communities of the East Coast of the United States since 1998, and similar services operate on th ...

. In 2017 the

Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (VDRPT) is an agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. According to its web site, the state agency's mission is "to improve the mobility of people and goods while expanding ...

started th
Virginia Breeze
contracted to Megabus, and it now has three routes, from the North Carolina border to Washington, DC.

Railroads

Passenger rail

Virginia is served by passenger rail service provided by

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

and

Virginia Railway Express Virginia Railway Express (VRE) is a commuter rail service that connects outlying small cities of Northern Virginia to Union Station in Washington, D.C. It operates two lines which run during weekday rush hour only: the Fredericksburg Line from ...

commuter rail. The

(DRPT) has projects underway for establishing high speed passenger rail service from

, to

and

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the List of North Carolina county seats, seat of Wake County, North Carolina, Wake County in the United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most ...

, as part of the

Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor The Southeast Corridor (SEC) is a proposed passenger rail transportation project in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States to extend high-speed passenger rail services from Washington, D.C. south through Richmond, Petersburg with a spur ...

(SEHSR). In addition, Virginia expands Amtrak service through grants to freight railroads to upgrade track, in exchange for more passenger carriage, and it purchases under-used or abandoned right-of-way from the railroads (rail-banking). North Carolina also does this, as well as supporting Amtrak lines directly and owning a railroad, and is in a rail compact with Virginia. Ridership levels tend to bear out the investment, which is incremental and focused on areas with high demand. The Amtrak ''

Northeast Regional The ''Northeast Regional'' is an intercity rail service operated by Amtrak in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic United States. In the past it has been known as the ''NortheastDirect'', ''Acela Regional'', or ''Regional''. It is Amtrak's busies ...

'' has been enhanced to

Newport News Newport News () is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 186,247. Located in the Hampton Roads region, it is the 5th most populous city in Virginia and 140th most populous city in the Uni ...

and extended to a new Norfolk station. Another new station opened in Roanoke, and the Lynchburg station was rehabilitated to serve both the ''

Crescent A crescent shape (, ) is a symbol or emblem used to represent the lunar phase in the first quarter (the "sickle moon"), or by extension a symbol representing the Moon itself. In Hinduism, Lord Shiva is often shown wearing a crescent moon on his ...

'' and the ''

''. The busiest stations are in Richmond, Northern Virginia and Charlottesville.https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/projects/dotcom/english/public/documents/corporate/statefactsheets/VIRGINIA17.pdf

Lorton, Virginia Lorton is a census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. The population was 18,610 as of the 2010 census. History Lorton is named for a village in the Lake District National Park, Cumbria, in England. Joseph Plasket ...

, is the northern terminus for Amtrak's non-stop ''

Auto Train ''Auto Train'' is an scheduled daily train service for passengers and their automobiles operated by Amtrak between Lorton, Virginia (near Washington, D.C.), and Sanford, Florida (near Orlando). ''Auto Train'' is the only motorail service in ...

'', which allows passengers to take a motor vehicle on an overnight trip between there and

Sanford, Florida Sanford is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Seminole County. As of the 2020 census, its population was 61,051. Known as the "Historic Waterfront Gateway City", Sanford sits on the southern shore ...

, just outside of

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures rele ...

. The thrice-weekly ''

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

'' runs through Piedmont and Western Virginia to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

.
Transdominion Express
was proposed in the early 2000's to serve

Southside Virginia Southside, or Southside Virginia, has traditionally referred to the portion of the state south of the James River, the geographic feature from which the term derives its name. This was the first area to be developed in the colonial period. Duri ...

Freight railroads

Virginia is served by major

Class I railroad In the United States, railroad carriers are designated as Class I, II, or III, according to annual revenue criteria originally set by the Surface Transportation Board in 1992. With annual adjustments for inflation, the 2019 thresholds were US$ ...

Norfolk Southern The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Railroad classes, Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway (U.S.), Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the ...

and

CSX CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...

. There are many

short line railroad :''Short Line is also one of the four railroads in the American version of the popular board game Monopoly, named after the Shore Fast Line, an interurban streetcar line.'' A shortline railroad is a small or mid-sized railroad company that opera ...

s, including the

Buckingham Branch Railroad Buckingham Branch Railroad is a Class III railroad, Class III short-line railroad operating over 275 miles (443 km) of historic and strategic trackage in Central Virginia. Sharing overhead traffic with CSX and Amtrak, the company's headqu ...

, the state's largest. Norfolk Southern, a

Fortune 500 The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States corporations by total revenue for their respective fiscal years. The list includes publicly held companies, along ...

company, has its headquarters in Norfolk.

Ports

Air and Space

Washington Dulles International Airport at Dusk

Virginia is served by a number of major commercial

s. Top Virginia airports by total passengers boarded Other important airports include: * Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport *

Lynchburg Regional Airport Lynchburg Regional Airport , also known as Preston Glenn Field, is a public use airport in Campbell County, Virginia, United States. It is located at the intersection of Route 29 South and Route 460, five nautical miles (6 mi, 9&nbs ...

Roanoke Regional Airport Roanoke may refer to: Places *Roanoke Colony, a former English colony that mysteriously disappeared *Roanoke Island, the location of the Roanoke colony in present-day North Carolina *Roanoke River, flowing through Virginia and North Carolina and e ...

Shenandoah Valley Regional Airport Shenandoah Valley Regional Airport is in Weyers Cave, Virginia, United States, northeast of Staunton. It is used for general aviation and is served by one airline, subsidized by the Essential Air Service program. The airport is operated by ...

Stafford Regional Airport Stafford Regional Airport is a public airport located three miles (5 km) southwest of the central business district of Stafford, Virginia, Stafford, the county seat of Stafford County, Virginia, Stafford County, Virginia, United States. The ...

The state is also home to two spaceports: *

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

Wallops Flight Facility Wallops Flight Facility (WFF) is a rocket launch site on Wallops Island on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, United States, just east of the Delmarva Peninsula and approximately north-northeast of Norfolk. The facility is operated by the Goddard ...

Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport The Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) is a commercial space launch facility located at the southern tip of NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island in Virginia, just east of the Delmarva Peninsula and south of Chincoteague, Virgin ...

(MARS)

Nautical

has become known as the "world's greatest natural harbor". The port is located only 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 The Port of South Louisiana (french: Port de la Louisiane du Sud) extends 54 miles (87 km) along the Mississippi River between New Orleans, Louisiana and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, centering approximately at LaPlace, Louisiana, which serves as t ...

based on export tonnage. When import and export tonnage are combined, the

Port of Hampton Roads A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...

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

, and

. In Portsmouth, a few miles up the Elizabeth River,

Norfolk Naval Shipyard The Norfolk Naval Shipyard, often called the Norfolk Navy Yard and abbreviated as NNSY, is a U.S. Navy facility in Portsmouth, Virginia, for building, remodeling and repairing the Navy's ships. It is the oldest and largest industrial facility tha ...

is located

Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS), a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries, is the largest industrial employer in Virginia, and sole designer, builder and refueler of United States Navy aircraft carriers and one of two providers of U.S. Navy ...

is located a short distance up the

. There are also several smaller shipyards, numerous docks and terminals. Massive

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

loading piers and facilities were established in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by the

Chesapeake and Ohio Railway The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway was a Class I railroad formed in 1869 in Virginia from several smaller Virginia railroads begun in the 19th century. Led by industrialist Collis P. Huntington, it reached from Virginia's capital city of Richmond t ...

(C&O),

Norfolk and Western Railway The Norfolk and Western Railway , commonly called the N&W, was a US class I railroad, formed by more than 200 railroad mergers between 1838 and 1982. It was headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia, for most of its existence. Its motto was "Precisio ...

(N&W), and

(VGN). The latter two were predecessors of the

Norfolk Southern Railway The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the company operates 19,420 route miles (31 ...

, a

headquartered in Norfolk that exports coal from a large facility at

Lambert's Point Lamberts Point is a point of land on the east shore of the Elizabeth River near the downtown area of the independent city of Norfolk in the South Hampton Roads region of eastern Virginia, United States. It includes a large coal exporting facilit ...

on the Elizabeth River.

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...

now serves the former C&O facility at Newport News. Virginia has extensive waterways. In addition to the lower portion of the

and the harbor of Hampton Roads, navigable rivers include: * Elizabeth River *

* York River *

Rappahannock River The Rappahannock River is a river in eastern Virginia, in the United States, approximately in length.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 It traverses the entir ...

Potomac River The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augus ...

The

Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway The Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) is a inland waterway along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts of the United States, running from Massachusetts southward along the Atlantic Seaboard and around the southern tip of Florida, then following th ...

passes through eastern Virginia. The state operates an

facility near

Front Royal Front Royal is the only incorporated town in Warren County, Virginia, United States. The population was 15,011 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Warren County. History The entire Shenandoah Valley including the area to become F ...

History

Colonial period, 19th century

20th-21st centuries

Highways and bridges

Interstate highways

Primary highways

Secondary highways

National parkways

Beltways and bypasses

Northern Virginia

Hampton Roads

Richmond

Staunton

Bypasses

River and waterway crossings

Major bridges, tunnels, and bridge-tunnels

Ferry systems

=Motor vehicle services

=Pedestrian ferry services

Commuter bus service

Local public transportation

Transit bus and paratransit systems

Subway systems

Light rail and streetcar projects

Intercity bus services

Railroads

Passenger rail

Freight railroads

Ports

Air and Space

Nautical

See also

References

External links