State Route 175 (SR 175) 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 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 ...

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 ...

. Known as Chincoteague Road, the state highway runs from U.S. Route 13 (US 13) at Nash Corner east to Main Street in Chincoteague. SR 175 passes through the northeastern corner of Accomack County, providing the primary access to

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 ...

and both

Chincoteague Island Chincoteague may refer to: Geography in the United States * Chincoteague Bay, a bay on the coast of Maryland and Virginia * Chincoteague Channel, a channel in Virginia connecting Chincoteague Bay and Chincoteague Inlet *Chincoteague Inlet, an inlet ...

and the Virginia portion of

Assateague Island Assateague Island is a long barrier island located off the eastern coast of the Delmarva Peninsula facing the Atlantic Ocean. The northern two-thirds of the island is in Maryland while the southern third is in Virginia. The Maryland sectio ...

. The route travels between the mainland and Chincoteague Island along the

John B. Whealton Memorial Causeway The John B. Whealton Memorial Causeway, more commonly known to the locals as the Chincoteague Causeway, connects the mainland of the Eastern Shore to Chincoteague, where it continues into town as Maddox Boulevard. The causeway is part of State ...

. In 1928, SR 520 was designated to run from US 13 in Oak Hall east toward Chincoteague Island, being extended onto the island in 1930. The route was extended south along US 13 and west to a railroad crossing west of Oak Hall in 1930. SR 520 became SR 175 in the

1933 Virginia state highway renumbering In 1933, the U.S. state of Virginia renumbered almost all of its state highways. This renumbering was caused by the assignment of numbers from 600 up to the new secondary system, but all three-digit numbers were affected. At the same time, all nu ...

. SR 175 was extended south on Main Street in Chincoteague a year later and east on Beebe Road the following year, at which time a

spur route A spur route is a short road forming a branch from a longer, more important road such as a freeway, Interstate Highway, or motorway. A bypass or beltway should not be considered a true spur route as it typically reconnects with another or the s ...

known as SR 175Y was designated onto the northern portion of Main Street. The western terminus was moved to its current location in 1947, with the section west of US 13 becoming part of SR 703. SR 175 was routed to bypass Wallops Station to the south in 1954. In 1992, the section of SR 175 in Chincoteague, along with all of SR 175Y, was transferred to the secondary system. SR 175 was rerouted to bypass Marsh Island and a

swing bridge A swing bridge (or swing span bridge) is a movable bridge that has as its primary structural support a vertical locating pin and support ring, usually at or near to its center of gravity, about which the swing span (turning span) can then pi ...

over Chincoteague Channel with a new

bascule bridge A bascule bridge (also referred to as a drawbridge or a lifting bridge) is a moveable bridge with a counterweight that continuously balances a span, or leaf, throughout its upward swing to provide clearance for boat traffic. It may be single- or ...

further north in 2010, tying into Main Street at Maddox Boulevard. The former swing bridge was demolished and a spur off the new bridge was built to serve Marsh Island.

Route description

SR 175 begins at an intersection with US 13 (Lankford Highway) at Nash Corner south of the

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 ...

state line. The state highway heads east as two-lane undivided Chincoteague Road through a mix of farmland and woodland. Upon reaching the community of

Wattsville Wattsville is a small village in the Sirhowy Valley, eight miles north west of Newport, built in the 20th century for accommodation for mine workers. Amenities Modern Wattsville consists of two villages, Wattsville and Brynawel. It consists of o ...

, the highway intersects SR 679 (Fleming Road) and SR 798 (Mill Dam Road). The road crosses over Wallops Pond, an impoundment of Wattsville Branch of Mosquito Creek, onto

Wallops Island Wallops Island is a island in Accomack County, Virginia, part of the Virginia Barrier Islands that stretch along the eastern seaboard of the United States of America. It is just south of Chincoteague Island, a popular tourist destination. W ...

. SR 175 heads east, intersecting SR 798 (Atlantic Avenue) again, then curves north through

Wallops Island National Wildlife Refuge The Wallops Island National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge located on Wallops Island, Virginia; the refuge was created on July 10, 1975, with the transfer of of land from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and is ad ...

and around

, a

rocket launch site This article constitutes a list of rocket launch sites. Some of these sites are known as spaceports or cosmodromes. A single rocket launch is sufficient for inclusion in the table, as long as the site is properly documented through a reference. M ...

operated as a subsidiary of

Goddard Space Flight Center The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is a major NASA space research laboratory located approximately northeast of Washington, D.C. in Greenbelt, Maryland, United States. Established on May 1, 1959 as NASA's first space flight center, GSFC empl ...

. While heading north parallel to one of the flight facility's runways, the state highway passes the NASA Visitor Center. SR 175 curves to the east as it passes the main entrance to the flight facility. SR 175 heads east onto the

between the mainland and Chincoteague Island. The causeway passes over marshland adjacent to the southern end of Chincoteague Bay and includes bridges over Mosquito Creek, Cockle Creek, Queen Sound Channel, and Wire Narrows. A fifth bridge curves to the north and then east around the northern end of Marsh Island to cross Black Narrows and

Chincoteague Channel Chincoteague Channel is a channel on the Eastern Shore of Virginia between marshlands to the northwest and Chincoteague Island to the southeast. The Chincoteague Channel connects to Chincoteague Bay to the northeast and Chincoteague Inlet GMCO Map ...

onto

. The bridge has a bascule span over Chincoteague Channel and lands on Chincoteague Island north of the downtown area. Marsh Island is served by a connector bridge that meets SR 175 over Black Narrows. SR 175 reaches its eastern terminus at Main Street in the town of Chincoteague. The roadway continues east as Maddox Boulevard toward

. SR 175 serves as the access road from US 13 to both Chincoteague and the Virginia section of Assateague Island.

History

A causeway linking Chincoteague Island to the mainland was proposed by John B. Whealton, who formed the Chincoteague Toll Road and Bridge Company in 1919. On November 15, 1922, the causeway to Chincoteague Island was completed. Tolls were collected on the causeway until 1930. The road between US 13 in Oak Hall and Chincoteague Island became a part of the state highway system as SR 520 in August 1928. The route was extended onto Chincoteague Island in June 1930. In December of that year, SR 520 was extended south on US 13 and west along CR 107 to a railroad crossing west of Oak Hall. In the

, SR 520 was replaced with SR 175. In August 1934, SR 175 was extended south along Main Street in Chincoteague on the former SR 717. A year later, the route was extended east along Beebe Road to the boundary of Chincoteague. The western terminus of SR 175 was cut back to its current location at US 13 in June 1947, with an extension of SR 703 replacing the small section of the route that extended west from US 13. SR 175 was rerouted to bypass the Wallops Station facility to the south in May 1954; SR 798 was assigned to part of the former alignment. The SR 175 designation was removed from Main Street and Beebe Road in June 1992 when that stretch of road was transferred to the secondary system, leaving the eastern terminus at Main Street just east of the causeway onto the island. In January 2007, construction began to build a new bridge to Chincoteague Island for SR 175. This new crossing was built as the old bridges were narrow and deteriorating, in addition to reducing traffic congestion in downtown Chincoteague and providing a more direct route to the island's main commercial district and Assateague Island. The project constructed a bascule bridge over Black Narrows and Chincoteague Channel that would enter the island and terminate at Main Street and Maddox Boulevard, replacing the previous crossing by way of Marsh Island that consisted of a

over the Chincoteague Channel. A connector bridge was built to serve Marsh Island. SR 175 was relocated to the new bridge in October 2010. The old bridge over Black Narrows and the swing bridge over Chincoteague Channel were demolished following the completion of the new bridge.

Major intersections

SR 175Y

State Route 175Y (SR 175Y) was an

of SR 175 in Chincoteague. The route ran from SR 175 near the eastern end of the original causeway onto the island north along Main Street to the northern border of Chincoteague. When SR 175Y was designated in August 1935, it replaced a section of SR 717. The route was transferred to the secondary system in June 1992.

References

External links

Virginia Highways Project: VA 175
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