Henry G. Shirley Memorial Highway | ||||
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Route information | ||||
Length: | 17.3 mi (27.8 km) | |||
History: | Constructed and opened from 1941 to 1952 | |||
Major junctions | ||||
South end: | I‑95 / US 1 in Colchester | |||
I‑95 / I‑495 in Springfield | ||||
North end: | I‑395 / US 1 / SR 110 in Arlington | |||
Highway system | ||||
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The Henry G. Shirley Memorial Highway consists of a 17.3-mile (27.8 km) portion of Interstates 95 and 395 in the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. Shirley Highway was the first limited-access freeway in Virginia. Begun in 1941, the road was completed from Woodbridge, Virginia, to the 14th Street Bridge over the Potomac River between Virginia and Washington, D.C., in 1952.
The Shirley Highway is named in honor of Henry G. Shirley, the head of the Virginia Department of Highways (now Virginia Department of Transportation) from 1922 to 1941, who died in July, 1941, just a few weeks after giving the "go-ahead" for work on the new highway. The road was originally a four-lane highway, and it was designated State Route 350 from its southern intersection with U.S. Route 1 north of the Occoquan River near Woodbridge, Virginia, and its northern intersection with U.S. Route 1 near the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia.