Colonial Parkway is part of a linear national park between Jamestown and Yorktown, via Williamsburg. It thus is not maintained by Virginia DOT, and seems to have been forgotten by the Parks Department as well, as it still has original pavement and no lane markings. Because of this, it is the only surviving example in the United States of a suicide highway (US 1 in southern Virginia was recently restriped). Most of the portions of the highway are marked no passing in one direction or the other due to curvature, but some stretches allow passing. Passing occurs in the middle lane, and when both sides are allowed to pass, it's a suicide lane - you risk your life if someone on the other side pulls out as well. The 2009 VDOT "map of scenic roads" confirms this operation.


In addition to winding through scenic forests, Colonial Parkway goes by the James and York Rivers. The second photo is along the York, heading toward US 17.


Part of the design stipulation for the Parkway was having all structures fit with the environment, somewhat like the Merritt Parkway in Connecticut, which pretty much translates to brick and stone. The tunnel is underneath the heart of Colonial Williamsburg, captured here facing NB from the end of VA 132Y (a short parking lot connector running to VA 132).


I bet this is EB. The Parkway ends here, just shy of the Yorktown Battlefield entrance. All of the signs on Colonial Pkwy. are brown, as they should be since it's a national park, but they all use some manner of nonstandard font.

Onto US 17
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