U.S. Route 460 in Virginia

U.S. Route 460
Route information
Maintained by VDOT
Length:	406.43 mi (654.09 km)
Western section
Length:	79.59 mi (128.09 km)
West end:	US 460 near Big Rock
Major junctions:	US 19 at Claypool Hill
East end:	US 460 in Bluefield
Eastern section
Length:	326.84 mi (526.00 km)
West end:	US 460 in Glen Lyn
Major junctions:	I‑81 / US 11 in Christiansburg I‑581 / US 220 in Roanoke US 29 / US 501 in Lynchburg US 15 in Farmville US 360 in Burkeville I‑85 / I‑95 in Petersburg US 13 / US 58 in Suffolk I‑64 / I‑664 in Chesapeake I‑264 in Norfolk
East end:	US 60 in Norfolk
Location
Counties:	Buchanan, Tazewell; Giles, Montgomery, Roanoke, City of Salem, City of Roanoke, Botetourt, Bedford, Campbell, City of Lynchburg, Appomattox, Prince Edward, Nottoway, Dinwiddie, City of Petersburg, Prince George, Sussex, Surry, Southampton, Isle of Wight, City of Suffolk, City of Chesapeake, City of Norfolk
Highway system
United States Numbered Highway System List Special Divided Replaced Virginia Routes Interstate U.S. Primary Secondary Byways History ← SR 457 I‑464 →

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.

US 460 from Interstate 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 Interstate 73.

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 (Edgewater Drive) 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 (Lovers Gap Road) 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.

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Wikipedia