Virginia Roads - US 15/US 29/US 17

US 15, US 15/29, US 15/17/29


Right sign, wrong design, SB leaving Clarksville.


US 15 and VA 49 SB are signed "TO" straight ahead, which is correct - because they both turn right into Clarksville with Business US 58. The ramps carry no route at all, instead of going for a Bypass/Business setup, and it's from those ramps that I look out over John Kerr Reservoir, the lake over the former confluence area of the Roanoke and Dan Rivers.


One more peek at the reservoir, looking east at a small branch that manages to get across US 15.


SR 857, 858, and 859 are consecutive old alignments of US 15, alternating sides as one progresses north. This tiny sign is NB.


Southbound, with the first photo in Keysville with US 360 WB; apparently, the railroad got to put its logo on something resembling an overhead street identifier.


Enjoy the scenery as I head south from Fork Union to Keysville, with views of the James River to the east and west. Despite the irony of his name, Billy Kidd indeed won reelection in Buckingham County in 2012. The last photo is of a long bridge over a pair of railroad lines that appear to have been constructed during the "golden age" when two companies who wanted to compete for markets would buy adjacent ROWs and try to win each town's services, as there is no connection between the two lines. The more northeasterly line won, as it's double-tracked and clearly active, while the southwesterly one is single-tracked and hidden in the trees.


Fork Union is at a fork in the road. Coincidence? I don't know. VA 6 is about to head west, while US 15 will head south.


Mini-shields, old and new.


Leaving US 33 (see big link at bottom) on the north side of Gordonsville, I end up on the original US 15 two-lane, converted to the NB carriageway with a smoother vertical alignment on the SB side. Of course, every so often the new carriageway is the NB one instead. The Knights of the Golden Horseshoe are less interesting than the name suggests - just a colonial group commissioned to explore over the mountains, who received golden horseshoes as gifts upon their return.


VA 299 SB ends south of Culpeper, where US 15 will pick up US 29.


US 15/29 NB enters Fauquier County.


US 17 joins 15 and 29 on the NB Warrenton bypasswith unusual representation of the "Bus" routes. Where do mainline 15 and 29 go to? I would think people unfamiliar with the area end up on the business route just because that's the only place their route number shows up Is it that hard to construct a proper sign for the Business routes? Notice that "LANE 1/2" looks nothing like the proper "EXIT 1/4" on the next one.


All three routes SB on the bypass with curiously constructed EXIT ONLY panels, courtesy Lou Corsaro. Certainly the arrow should only be used on overhead signs, and at least use the same arrow on both. Adding the words "RIGHT LANE (MUST)" could perhaps explain things better. Why are the signs constructed differently if they carry essentially the same message? Could they have possibly not been installed simultaneously?


No, Skyline Drive doesn't go anywhere near Warrenton, but US 211 eventually leads there. Interestingly, this NB sign didn't appear at the southern exit to the business routes, which would have been the short way to 211 to the west, but rather at the northern end of Warrenton, the long and traffic signal-filled way around. Then again, only tourists are using Skyline Drive to begin with, so it's no great shakes.


US 17 has left by the Colonial Rd./Dumfries Rd. intersection, but both US 15 and US 29 get to enjoy these odd lane-ending signs.


Continuing northbound, with a white sign in Lucketts where General Lee turned east to the Potomac. After that, US 15 crosses the Point of Rocks Bridge, which technically is entirely in Maryland, so continue on that page, linked below, for more of it.

US 33 and US 15/33
Onto US 17 alone
Onto US 29 alone

Business US 15, Culpeper
SR 762, old US 15/29, Brandy Station
Onto Business US 29 and Business US 15/29, Remington and Warrenton
Business US 211 and Business US 15/211, Warrenton

Into North Carolina on US 15
Into Maryland on US 15
Onto US 58
Onto VA 49
Onto Business US 17
To Skyline Drive
Back to Virginia Roads
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