State Route 163 (SR 163) 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 U.S. state of Virginia. The state highway runs from

U.S. Route 501 U.S. Route 501 (US 501) is a spur of U.S. Route 1. It runs 355 miles (571 km) from Buena Vista, Virginia at U.S. Route 60 to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina at U.S. Route 17 Business. It passes through the states of Virginia, North Carolina a ...

(US 501) and US 29 Business in Lynchburg north to US 29 Business in Madison Heights. SR 163 is the original alignment of US 29 through Lynchburg, a highway has been twice bypassed: first by the Lynchburg Expressway and later by US 29's present bypass. The state highway provides access to downtown Lynchburg and many other historic neighborhoods of the independent city.

Route description

SR 163 begins as Wards Road, a five-lane road with a center left-turn lane, at a partial interchange with US 501 (Lynchburg Expressway) and US 29 Business (Wards Road) adjacent to the River Ridge Mall on the south side of Lynchburg. Wards Road continues south as US 29 Business toward a junction with US 29 and US 460. There is no direct access from southbound SR 163 to northbound US 29 and southbound US 501, or from southbound US 29 and northbound US 501 to northbound SR 163. The missing movements are made via SR 163's intersection with SR 128 (Candler Mountain Road), which has a full interchange with US 501 and US 29 Business (Lynchburg Expressway) to the east. SR 163 continues north as Wards Road across

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 ...

's Blue Ridge District to US 460 Business (Fort Avenue). The two highways run concurrently northeast as a four-lane undivided highway to the Fort Early and Jubal Early Monument, where SR 163 diverges north as two-lane Memorial Avenue at an acute intersection. Access from southbound SR 163 to eastbound US 460 Business and from westbound US 460 Business to northbound SR 163 is provided through Oakridge Boulevard. SR 163 continues north toward downtown Lynchburg. The state highway intersects US 221 (Oakley Avenue) and US 501 Business (Langhorne Road) and passes the historic home Centerview before crossing Norfolk Southern's Danville District rail line and becoming 5th Street. SR 163 passes the Old City Cemetery, Pyramid Motors, and the

Kentucky Hotel The Kentucky Hotel is a historic hotel building located at Lynchburg, Virginia. It is one of Lynchburg's three remaining early 19th century ordinaries. It was probably built before 1800, and is a -story structure of brick laid in Flemish bond. I ...

on its way to a

roundabout A roundabout is a type of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junction.''The New Shorter Oxford En ...

with Federal Street. Federal Street leads northwest into the

Garland Hill Historic District The Garland Hill Historic District is a national historic district located in Lynchburg, Virginia. The area is a small residential neighborhood incorporating the summit of one of the numerous hills surround downtown Lynchburg. The neighborhood w ...

, which contains the historic Lynchburg Hospital; and southeast into the Federal Hill Historic District, which preserves the

William Phaup House The William Phaup House is a historic home located in Lynchburg, Virginia. It is a modest two story, four bay Federal style brick dwelling constructed about 1817. It is named after its architect and original occupant, William Phaup. Very few al ...

Lynch's Brickyard House Lynch's Brickyard House is a historic home located at Lynchburg, Virginia. It consists of a dwelling built about 1849 and two garages built about 1922, all of which are constructed directly on the lot line along Jackson Street. The dwelling is a ...

, and the

Dr. Robert Walter Johnson House and Tennis Court Dr. Robert Walter Johnson House and Tennis Court is a historic home and tennis court in Lynchburg, Virginia, U.S., that was built in 1911 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. It is located in the Pierce Street Histori ...

. SR 163 continues northeast along the northern edge of downtown Lynchburg, passing by the Western Hotel and near many more historic buildings and cultural sites in the Court House Hill-Downtown and Lower Basin historic districts in downtown Lynchburg. At the northern corner of downtown Lynchburg, SR 163 intersects the one-way pair of Church Street and Main Street, which combine to head northwest as Rivermont Avenue toward the Daniel's Hill and

Rivermont Rivermont is a historic home located at Lynchburg, Virginia. It is a two-story Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th ...

historic districts. The state highway exits the city as Amherst Highway on a four-lane bridge over 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 ...

and CSX's

James River Subdivision The Richmond and Alleghany Railroad was built along the James River (Virginia), James River along the route of the James River and Kanawha Canal from Richmond, Virginia, Richmond on the Atlantic Seaboard fall line, Fall Line at the head of navigati ...

into

Amherst County Amherst County is a county, located in the Piedmont region and near the center of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The county is part of the Lynchburg Metropolitan Statistical Area, and its county seat is also named Amherst. ...

. After reducing to two lanes and ascending out of the river valley, SR 163 meets the western end of SR 210 (Colony Road), which connects the highway with US 29 Business and US 29. The state highway continues north through a partial diamond interchange with US 29 Business (Lynchburg Expressway) that allows access from SR 163 to southbound US 29 Business, from northbound US 29 Business to SR 163, and from southbound US 29 Business to southbound SR 163. SR 163 gains a second lane northbound for its final stretch to its northern terminus at an intersection with US 29 Business that serves as the northern end of the Lynchburg Expressway. US 29 Business continues north as Amherst Highway through Madison Heights before reaching US 29 just south of

Amherst Amherst may refer to: People * Amherst (surname), including a list of people with the name * Earl Amherst of Arracan in the East Indies, a title in the British Peerage; formerly ''Baron Amherst'' * Baron Amherst of Hackney of the City of London, ...

Major intersections

References

External links

{{Attached KML, display=title,inline
Virginia Highways Project: VA 163
163 State Route 163 State Route 163