U.S. Route 460 in Virginia

U.S. Route 460 in Virginia runs east–west through the southern part of the Commonwealth. The road has two separate pieces in Virginia, joined by a relatively short section in West Virginia. Most of US 460 is a four-lane divided highway and is a major artery in the southern third of the state. From Petersburg to Suffolk, US 460 is a four-lane non-divided highway. It is a popular alternative to Interstate 64 when going from
Richmond and other points in central Virginia to the Currituck Sound and Outer Banks of North Carolina, avoiding the congestion
and tunnels of the more northerly I-64 corridor. The road passes through several small towns that built up at stops along the railroad line.
US 460 from I-81 at Christiansburg west to Pikeville, Kentucky, including the piece in West Virginia, is Corridor Q of the Appalachian Development Highway System. From West Virginia east to I-81, US 460 also is part of the proposed I-73.

Route description

Big Rock to Bluefield

US 460 enters Buchanan County from Pike County, Kentucky, within the Cumberland Plateau, a multi-state dissected plateau that is part of the Appalachian Mountains. The U.S. Highway heads southeast as a two-lane road parallel to Norfolk Southern Railway's Buchanan Branch in the narrow valley of the Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy River. US 460 passes by the communities of Conaway, Big Rock, and Artia before entering the town of Grundy, the county seat of Buchanan County, as Riverside Drive. The highway expands to four lanes and then becomes a divided highway as it approaches the center of Grundy, where the slopes of the hills have been blasted away to improve flood control, relocate highways to higher ground, and create more usable land for building. US 460 meets SR 83 at the confluence of Slate Creek and Levisa Fork. The two highways run concurrently south as a mix of two- and four-lane road through Tookland to Vansant, where SR 83 splits west toward Clintwood. US 460 continues east as a four-lane divided highway through Deel, Janey, and Oakwood, the site of the Appalachian College of Pharmacy and where the railroad veers away from the highway. The U.S. Highway continues through Keen Mountain and Grimsleyville, between which the route leaves Levisa Fork near its headwaters. US 460 ascends to Shortt Gap, where the highway crosses Sandy Ridge. There, US 460 leaves the Ohio River watershed for the Tennessee River watershed, leaves the Cumberland Plateau for the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, and enters Tazewell County.
US 460 descends Sandy Ridge south along Coal Creek and passes through the community of Red Ash. The four-lane divided highway, named for George C. Peery, curves east and begins to parallel Norfolk Southern's Clinch Valley District rail line and the Clinch River at Raven, where the highway is paralleled by and is joined by SR 67. US 460 and SR 67 enter the town of Richlands; west of the downtown area, US 460 Bus. splits east with SR 67 onto Front Street. US 460 passes to the north of downtown and has a partial cloverleaf interchange with SR 67. The U.S. Highway continues into the town of Cedar Bluff and has a pair of right-in/right-out interchanges with its business route, here named Cedar Valley Drive. US 460 leaves the railroad and river, collects the eastern end of its business route, and heads south out of Cedar Bluff to Claypool Hill, where the highway intersects US 19.
US 460 and US 19 head east along four-lane divided George C. Peery Highway, which is also named The Trail of the Lonesome Pine, through a long east-west valley between Paint Lick Mountain and Deskin Mountain to the south and Smith Ridge to the north. The U.S. Highways rejoin the Clinch River and the Clinch Valley District rail line at Pounding Mill. US 19 and US 460 head through Cliffield and Maxwell to Pisgah, where US 19 Bus. and US 460 Bus. split south along Crab Orchard Road toward Frog Level. The mainline highways have a partial cloverleaf interchange with SR 16 Alt. at the western town limit of Tazewell. US 460 and US 19 continue through a diamond interchange with SR 16 and a partial cloverleaf interchange with SR 61 at a crossing of the Clinch River and the railroad west of downtown Tazewell. At the northeast corner of town, the U.S. Highways have a pair of right-in/right-out interchanges with SR 645 and SR 678, cross the rail line, and have a partial interchange with the eastern ends of their business routes.
US 460 and US 19 continue east between East River Mountain to the south and Little Valley Ridge to the north; the highways leave the Tennessee River watershed and enter the valley of the Bluestone River, which is part of the New River watershed. The U.S. Highways follow the river through Springville to the town of Bluefield, at the west end of which US 19 splits northeast at a trumpet interchange to pass through the centers of the twin cities of Bluefield, Virginia, and Bluefield. On the southern edge of the town, US 460 parallels SR 720 and has a pair of partial cloverleaf interchanges with that highway; the eastern interchange leads to SR 102. East of the latter interchange, US 460 enters West Virginia. The U.S. Highway serves that state's Bluefield and Princeton before re-entering Virginia near where the New River crosses the Virginia-West Virginia state line.

Glen Lyn to Christiansburg

US 460 re-enters Virginia at the town of Glen Lyn in Giles County at the northwestern end of the New River Valley region. The four-lane divided U.S. Highway, named Virginia Avenue throughout Giles County, crosses the East River, briefly parallels a bend in Norfolk Southern Railway's Christiansburg District, and crosses to the east side of the New River. US 460 follows the river around a bend into the town of Rich Creek, where the highway meets the southern end of US 219. The route follows the river south through a gap between East River Mountain to the west and Peters Mountain to the east to the town of Narrows, where the highway meets the eastern end of SR 61. US 460 curves east and crosses the New River again into the county seat of Pearisburg; there, US 460 Bus. splits off at a trumpet interchange to serve downtown Pearisburg and connect with SR 100. East of the town in Ripplemead, the U.S. Highway meets the eastern end of US 460 Bus. and SR 636 at a diamond interchange and crosses the New River and its parallel rail lines.
US 460 veers away from the New River and its rail lines at the town of Pembroke, through which the highway temporarily becomes undivided. The highway follows Sinking Creek to Newport, where the highway meets the southern end of the middle segment of SR 42. East of Newport, US 460 ascends Sinking Creek Mountain, at the top of which the highway enters Montgomery County. The highway, now named Pandapas Pond Road, passes between the eponymous pond, which is the source of Poverty Creek, which flows west into the New River, and the headwaters of Craig Creek, which flows east toward the James River. US 460 next crosses over Brush Mountain, east of which the highway curves south at Toms Creek and enters the town of Blacksburg.
At the north end of town, the long US 460 Bus. that serves both Blacksburg and Christiansburg splits off along Main Street while US 460 bypasses downtown Blacksburg and Virginia Tech to the west. The four-lane freeway has partial cloverleaf interchanges with Toms Creek Road and Prices Fork Road, which heads east as SR 412 toward downtown Blacksburg and the center of the Virginia Tech campus. The freeway previously had one at-grade intersection: a junction with Southgate Drive, which provided access to the Virginia Tech athletics facilities, including Lane Stadium and Cassell Coliseum; the Virginia–Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine; and a research park that contains Virginia Tech Montgomery Executive Airport. Construction started in the spring of 2015 on a new diverging-diamond interchange that replaced the at-grade Southgate Drive intersection. The new interchange is just south of the current intersection and serves both the Virginia Tech campus and the Corporate Research Center via new roads and a relocated Southgate Drive. The project, which includes two bridges over US 460, opened in December 2017 one year earlier than estimated. At the southern edge of the research park, US 460 meets its business route at a complex interchange featuring many flyover ramps and a variety of direct and indirect connections to allow every movement between the two highways. Immediately to the east of the interchange is the western end of the Virginia Smart Road, a Virginia Department of Transportation facility that is not open to the public.
US 460 continues south parallel to its business route and enters the town of Christiansburg, the county seat of Montgomery County. The U.S. Highway has a partial cloverleaf interchange with the eastern end of SR 114 before it reaches another complex interchange with US 460 Bus.. That interchange includes pair of flyovers from both directions of US 460 and a trumpet interchange to the north of Norfolk Southern's Christiansburg District and the business route's interchange with SR 111. US 460 bypasses the center of Christiansburg and crosses over the Christiansburg District rail line before meeting the business route again, this time concurrent with US 11, at a diamond interchange just north of US 460's full cloverleaf interchange with I-81, which has collector-distributor lanes through the interchange. The US 460 roadway continues south of I-81 as Parkway Drive, and there are ramps from the southbound I-81 ramp to westbound US 460 and from US 11 to the ramp from eastbound US 460 to southbound I-81. The two directions of US 460 continue along the collector-distributor lanes of I-81 east to the Interstate's partial cloverleaf interchange with US 11 and the eastern end of US 460 Bus., where US 460 exits into a concurrency with US 11.

Christiansburg to Roanoke

US 460 and US 11 follow a four-lane road with center turn lane toward the eastern end of Christiansburg, where the highways cross the Eastern Continental Divide from the New River watershed to the Roanoke River watershed. This road, named Roanoke Road and Lee Highway, reduces to two lanes plus center turn lane and then two lanes westbound, one lane eastbound as it descends the Pedlar Hills, also known as Christiansburg Mountain. At the bottom of the descent, US 460 and US 11 expand to a four-lane divided highway and parallel the Christiansburg District rail line and Spring Branch to the stream's confluence with the South Fork of the Roanoke River at Shawsville. The U.S. Highways follow the rail line and South Fork through Elliston to its confluence with the North Fork to form the Roanoke River proper at Lafayette, just east of which the road enters Roanoke County. US 460 and US 11 continue east along the river valley between Poor Mountain to the south and Fort Lewis Mountain to the north through Glenvar until the valley opens into the broad Roanoke Valley as the road enters the independent city of Salem.
US 460 and US 11 enter Salem along Main Street, a four-lane road with center turn lane. The highways intersect SR 112, a connector with I-81, then pass the historic Preston House and veer away from the railroad and river west of their junction with US 11 Alt. and US 460 Alt., which veer southeast along Fourth Street. US 460 and US 11 continue along a two- or three-lane street past the historic McVitty Home before entering the Downtown Salem Historic District. Within downtown, the U.S. Highways pass the Salem Post Office and Salem Presbyterian Church before they diverge when US 11 turns south onto College Avenue; College Avenue to the north leads to Roanoke College, and the Main-College intersection is next to the Old Roanoke County Courthouse. One block to the east, US 460 intersects SR 311. US 460 continues east past the Williams-Brown House and Store, Salem Presbyterian Parsonage, and Longwood Park and the western end of Lynchburg Turnpike. The U.S. Highway expands to a four-lane divided highway as it crosses a rail spur and intersects SR 419, where US 460 Alt. ends and US 11 Alt. joins US 460 east out of Salem.
US 460 and US 11 Alt. enter the independent city of Roanoke as Melrose Avenue. The highways intersect SR 117 and intersect and become concurrent with SR 116 on the west side of Roanoke. On the western edge of the Melrose-Rugby neighborhood, US 460, US 11 Alt., and SR 116 reduce to three lanes. The highways veer onto Salem Turnpike to shift from Melrose Avenue to Orange Avenue. The street becomes four lanes again at 11th Street, then it passes along the southern end of the Washington Park before expanding back to divided highway ahead of the cloverleaf interchange with I-581 and US 220. At I-581, road gains a fourth route, US 220 Alt.; gains an additional lane in each direction; and passes to the north of the Roanoke Civic Center. The next intersection, US 11, serves as the eastern terminus of US 11 Alt. In addition, SR 116 turns south toward Downtown Roanoke and US 221 joins US 460 and US 220 Alt. from Downtown Roanoke. US 460, US 221, and US 220 Alt. continue east with six lanes. The highways pass under Norfolk Southern's Roanoke District, meet the southern end of SR 115, and drop to four lanes before crossing Tinker Creek. The routes curve northeast and pass historic Mount Moriah Baptist Church and Cemetery before leaving the city of Roanoke and re-entering Roanoke County, where US 220 Alt. splits north onto Cloverdale Road at Bonsack between Read Mountain to the west and the spine of the Blue Ridge Mountains to the east.