State Route 257 (SR 257) 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 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 ...

. The state highway runs from SR 902 and SR 924 near Briery Branch east to

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 ...

(I-81) near Mount Crawford. SR 257 connects I-81 and U.S. Route 11 (US 11) with Bridgewater and

Dayton Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Da ...

, between which the highway runs concurrently with SR 42. The state highway also provides access to Bridgewater College and connects Dayton with the western Rockingham County communities of Briery Branch, Ottobine and Montezuma.

Route description

SR 257 begins at the intersection of SR 902 and SR 924 (Briery Branch Road) within

George Washington National Forest The George Washington and Jefferson National Forests is an administrative entity combining two U.S. National Forests into one of the largest areas of public land in the Eastern United States. The forests cover of land in the Appalachian Mountai ...

west of Briery Branch. The state highway heads northeast as two-lane undivided Briery Branch Road, which crosses Hone Quarry Run and follows Briery Branch east through its gap in Narrow Back Mountain. SR 257 veers away from the creek, exits the national forest, and enters 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 state highway heads southeast to the community of Briery Branch, where the highway has a pair of right-angle turns at disjoint sections of SR 731, which heads south as Community Center Road and north as Daniel Cupp Road. SR 257 continues east to Ottobine, where the highway turns southeast at its four-way intersection with SR 613 (Clover Hill Road) and SR 742 (Waggys Creek Road). The state highway continues as Ottobine Road, which passes to the south of Paul State Forest. SR 257 passes through the village of Montezuma and crosses the Dry River. SR 257 passes through Stemphleytown before entering the town of Dayton, where the highway becomes Mason Street. The state highway intersects Main Street, which heads north as SR 42 Business, and has a very short concurrency with the business route east to SR 42 (John Wayland Highway). SR 257 runs concurrently with SR 42 along the four-lane

divided highway A dual carriageway ( BE) or divided highway ( AE) is a class of highway with carriageways for traffic travelling in opposite directions separated by a central reservation (BrE) or median (AmE). Roads with two or more carriageways which are ...

south out of Dayton. At the northern town limit of Bridgewater, the road becomes a three-lane road with a

center left-turn lane A reversible lane (British English: tidal flow) is a lane in which traffic may travel in either direction, depending on certain conditions. Typically, it is meant to improve traffic flow during rush hours, by having overhead traffic lights and li ...

and its name changes to Main Street. In downtown Bridgewater, SR 257 turns east onto two-lane Dinkel Avenue, which passes through the campus of Bridgewater College. SR 257 leaves the town and intersects US 11 (Lee Highway) just north of the town of Mount Crawford. The state highway continues east as four-lane divided Friedens Church Road to its eastern terminus at a

diamond interchange A diamond interchange is a common type of road junction, used where a controlled-access highway crosses a minor road. Design The freeway itself is grade-separated from the minor road, one crossing the other over a bridge. Approaching the ...

Route description

Major intersections

References

External links