The photo above is courtesy H.B. Elkins.


The first shield is undeniably old, just a little askew. Click on it for a closeup. The second one, courtesy H.B. Elkins, demonstrates that for some people, it's hard to draw an egg-shaped triangle. Hint: the sides meet the top at a 90-degree angle, not 45.


Someone sniffed glue and dropped Interstate blanks into the VA bin, apparently an isolated sign replacement incident on either side of downtown. They look snazzy, certainly snazzier than the aborted triangle in the first photo, but both styles are dead wrong. Third photo courtesy H.B. Elkins.

See, here's another heading west (north) out of town. You get to the cutout first, though, so why even make it this far?


Back on track, the beginning of what would probably be a completely innocuous secondary route if not for its connection to US 460 (but not 19, which continues to run through town as a sort of business route for 460 and meets it on either end). SR 720 gets its own page due to the number of Bluefield signs that are old or screwed up along its trivial length.


Former cutout heading WB (north) from SR 720, courtesy H.B. Elkins. It appears misleading, because US 19 and US 460 run separately through Bluefield. However, most signs in town predate the US 460 bypass, or at least fail to acknowledge its existence. That's even true on US 19, where you'd never know you left 460 behind.


Continuing evidence WB and another triangle shield. US 19/460 aren't on two distinct roads - the second intersection (just beyond town) is for Graham St., so should have "TO" banners above the US highways. And they should be on the left, because that's where they're pointing. Notice the old 1895 building in the back of the first photo.


Just inside the West Virginia border, courtesy H.B. Elkins. Not like it makes a difference, since the large town of Bluefield WV/VA predates the Civil War, and thus is qualified to straddle what were once two adjoining Virginia counties.

To "Rte." (US) 19
To "Rte." (US) 460
Onto SR 720
Back to Virginia Roads
Back to Roads