U.S. Route 15 in Virginia

Virginia Byway
Virginia Byway
Major junctions
South end	US 15 near Clarksville
	US 58 in Clarksville; US 360 in Keysville; US 460 in Farmville; US 60 near Dillwyn; I-64 / US 250 in Zion Crossroads; US 33 in Gordonsville; US 522 in Culpeper; US 17 in Warrenton; I-66 in Haymarket; US 50 in Gilberts Corner;
North end	US 15 near Lucketts
Location
Country	United States
State	Virginia
Counties	Mecklenburg, Halifax, Charlotte, Prince Edward, Buckingham, Fluvanna, Louisa, Orange, Madison, Culpeper, Fauquier, Prince William, Loudoun
Highway system
	United States Numbered Highway System; List; Special; Divided; Virginia Routes; Interstate; US; Primary; Secondary; Byways; History; HOT lanes;

U.S. Route 15 (US 15) is a part of the United States Numbered Highway System that runs from Walterboro, South Carolina, to Painted Post, New York. In Virginia, the U.S. Highway runs 230.37 miles (370.74 km) from the North Carolina state line near Clarksville north to the Maryland state line at the Potomac River near Lucketts. US 15 is a major north–south highway through the Piedmont of Virginia, connecting Clarksville and Farmville in Southside with Culpeper, Warrenton, and Leesburg in Northern Virginia.

Route description

Clarksville to Farmville

US 15 enters

US 58 Business (US 58 Bus.) and State Route 49 (SR 49).^[1]^[3]

After passing through the Clarksville Historic District, US 15, US 58 Bus., and SR 49 leave the town of Clarksville by crossing the John H. Kerr Reservoir, an impoundment of the Roanoke River that is also known as Buggs Island Lake, on the Phillip Saint Julian Wilson Bridge and a causeway. The bridge, which contains lights underneath used for nighttime fishing, includes a brief passage through Halifax County due to the thalwegs of the Roanoke and Dan rivers, which were used to set the county boundaries, converging just south of Clarksville. At the east end of the causeway, access to US 58 is provided at a four-way intersection. Ramps to US 58 west and US 58 east form the southern and eastern legs of the intersection, which mainline US 58 avoids via a pair of flyover ramps just east of its bridge over the reservoir. US 15 and SR 49 turn north, cross over the Virginia Southern rail line, and parallel the eastern shore of the lake until the two highways split at the hamlet of Dortch Store.^[1]^[3]

US 15 heads north, crossing the Bluestone Creek arm of the reservoir and entering

US 360 Bus. (Old Kings Highway); the sets of highways meet again at a partial interchange where the U.S. Highways also cross over the Virginia Southern Railroad. US 15 and US 360 meet SR 40 (Lunenburg County Highway) at a diamond interchange just east of the town of Keysville. The U.S. Highways pass under the rail line and diverge immediately to the north at a partial cloverleaf interchange; the divided highway continues as US 360 while US 15 exits onto two-lane undivided Farmville Highway, which meets the northern end of the business routes, which are named 4 Locust Highway.^[1]^[3]

US 15 enters

US 460 Bus. north to the northern end of US 15 Bus. (Third Street).^[1]^[3]

Farmville to Culpeper

US 15 crosses the Appomattox River into Buckingham County, where the road's name changes to James Madison Highway. The highway passes to the west of Willis Mountain before reaching US 60 (James Anderson Highway) at Sprouses Corner. US 15 meets the southern end of SR 20 (Constitution Route) then passes through the town of Dillwyn as Oak and Main streets. The U.S. Highway parallels the Buckingham Branch Railroad out of town and passes through the community of Alpha, where the highway passes by Buffards Mountain and veers away from the railroad. After passing through Arvonia, the highway crosses the James River at New Canton on the John H. Cocke Memorial Bridge. The bridge passes over the Buckingham Branch Railroad on the south side of the river just south of its bridge across the river to join CSX Transportation's Rivanna Subdivision, which parallels the north bank of the river through the hamlet of Bremo Bluff.^[1]^[3]

US 15 continues north through the Fluvanna County communities of Weber City and Fork Union. The U.S. Highway becomes concurrent with SR 6 (River Road) adjacent to Fork Union Military Academy. The two highways diverge at Dixie, from which US 15 passes through Carysbrook. The highway meets the eastern end of SR 53 (Thomas Jefferson Parkway) just south of the U.S. Highway's crossing of the Rivanna River into Palmyra. US 15 passes through Wildwood and Hunters before intersecting US 250 (Three Notch Road) at Zion Crossroads at the Fluvanna–Louisa county line. The U.S. Highway expands to a four-lane divided highway at US 250 that continues north through its diverging diamond interchange (DDI) with Interstate 64 (I-64). US 15 continues north along the edge of Green Springs National Historic Landmark District to its intersection with SR 22 (Louisa Road) at Boswells Tavern. The U.S. Highway meets US 33 (Spotswood Trail) just south of Gordonsville. The two highways run together north onto Orange County and the town of Gordonsville, where the highways parallel CSX Transportation's Piedmont Subdivision along Martinsburg Avenue. US 15 and US 33 veer onto Main Street and pass the Exchange Hotel at their underpass of the Washington Subdivision, the Charlottesville–Orange rail line owned by the Buckingham Branch Railroad. US 15 leaves Main Street at the Gordonsville Roundabout; US 33 and SR 231 head northwest as Main Street, SR 231 heads southwest along Gordon Avenue toward Cismont, and US 15 heads northeast along Gordon Avenue, which becomes James Madison Highway at the town limit.^[1]^[3]

North of Gordonsville, US 15 expands to a four-lane divided highway that parallels the Washington Subdivision and the eastern flank of the

US 15 Bus. continues north into the town of Culpeper.^[1]^[3]

Culpeper to Maryland

US 15 and US 29 run concurrently as a four-lane divided highway around the east side of Culpeper, where the highways cross over the Washington District rail line and meet

US 29 Bus. (James Madison Street). Immediately north of the northern junction with the business routes, US 15 and US 29 meet the southern end of SR 28 (Catlett Road), which follows the rail line toward Manassas.^[1]^[3]

US 15 and US 29 become concurrent with

US 29 Bus. splits northwest and their respective U.S. Highways bypass the town on a freeway to the east. US 15, US 17, and US 29 have a diamond interchange with SR 643 (Meetze Road/Lee Street) before reaching a directional interchange where US 17 diverges from the other U.S. Highways toward Winchester and US 15 and US 29 receive their business routes. US 15 and US 29 head northeast as Lee Highway, which passes through New Baltimore and intersects SR 215 (Vint Hill Road) just west of Buckland, where the highways enter Prince William County cross Broad Run. Just east of the county line, US 29 continues east as Lee Highway toward Washington while US 15 turns north onto two-lane James Madison Highway.^[1]^[3]

US 15 continues north through

I-66 and runs through a suburban area between Catharpin to the east and the Bull Run Mountains to the west. At Woolsey, US 15 meets the northern end of SR 234 (Sudley Road) and reduces to two lanes. North of Bull Run, where the road enters Loudoun County, the highway passes through a pair of roundabouts at Gilberts Corner. US 15 meets US 50 (John Mosby Highway) at the second roundabout. The U.S. Highway runs along the east flank of the Bull Run Mountains as it passes James Monroe's estate of Oak Hill just south of the Little River and Oatlands Historic House & Gardens in the community of Oatlands at its crossing of Goose Creek.^[1]^[3]

At Virts Corner east of

camelback truss bridge, into the Maryland village of Point of Rocks.^[1]^[3]

History

US 15 generally follows the Old

another route south of Petersburg. The number was again reused on its current alignment in the early 1940s to match NC 32

.

From June 2013 to February 2014, the Virginia Department of Transportation converted the existing interchange between US 15 and I-64, in Zion Crossroads, to a DDI, the first in the state, with final construction completed by mid-April 2014.^[4]^[5]^[6] A similar interchange between US 15 and I-66 was completed in January 2017.^[7]

Major intersections

County	Location	mi^[1]	km	Destinations	Notes
Mecklenburg		0.00	0.00	US 15 south – Oxford	North Carolina state line
	SR 49) – South Boston, Boydton	interchange
		6.08	9.78	US 58 Bus. west (Virginia Avenue) to SR 49 south – Danville	south end of US 58 Bus. overlap
		7.80	12.55	US 58 to US 15 south – Boydton, South Boston, South Hill, Occoneechee State Park	north end of US 58 Bus. overlap; south end of SR 49 overlap
		9.40	15.13	SR 49 north – Chase City, Victoria	North end of concurrency with SR 49
Charlotte	Barnes Junction	23.62	38.01	SR 92 (Jeb Stuart Highway) – Clover, Chase City
		26.86	43.23	SR 611 west (Hebron Church Road) – Danville, South Boston	South end of concurrency with US 360
	Crafton Gate	30.74	49.47	SR 47 (Craftons Gate Highway) – Drakes Branch, Chase City
	SR 622 west (Old Kings Road) – Keysville
				US 360 Bus. – Keysville	Interchange; no southbound entrance
		40.70	65.50	SR 40 – Keysville, Victoria	interchange
		42.72	68.75	US 360 west / SR 712 south – Richmond	interchange; north end of concurrency with US 360; south end of US 360 Bus. overlap
				US 360 Bus. west (Four Locust Highway) – Keysville	north end of US 360 Bus. overlap
Hampden-Sydney
		59.48	95.72	SR 45	interchange; south end of concurrency with US 460
		63.66	102.45	US 460 west – Lynchburg	interchange; north end of concurrency with US 460; south end of concurrency with US 460 Business
		63.80	102.68	Center for the Visual Arts, Longwood University	North end of concurrency with US 460 Business
Buckingham	Sprouses Corner	80.33	129.28	US 60 (James Anderson Highway) – Lexington, Richmond
Buckingham		81.78	131.61	SR 20 north (South Constitution Route) / SR 1003 east (Main Street) – Scottsville, Buckingham Correctional Center, Dillwyn Correctional Center
James River		98.13	157.92	John H. Cocke Memorial Bridge
Fluvanna	Fork Union	102.67	165.23	SR 6 west (West River Road) – Scottsville	South end of concurrency with SR 6
	Dixie	104.66	168.43	SR 6 east (East River Road) – Richmond	North end of concurrency with SR 6
		111.02	178.67	Ash Lawn, Monticello, Michie Tavern
Zion Cross Road	119.71	192.65	US 250 (Three Notch Road) – Charlottesville, Richmond
		120.16	193.38	I-64 – Charlottesville, Richmond	I-64 exit 136 (Diverging diamond interchange)
	Boswells Tavern	127.11	204.56	SR 22 (Louisa Road) – Shadwell, Louisa
		130.72	210.37	US 33 east (South Spotswood Trail) – Louisa, Richmond	South end of concurrency with US 33
Orange	Gordonsville			SR 1006 (South High Street / truck route)
	Gordonsville	132.29	212.90	traffic circle ); north end of concurrency with US 33
	Orange	140.64	226.34	SR 20 north (Berry Hill Road) – Wilderness, Orange Airport	South end of concurrency with SR 20
		140.81	226.61	SR 20 south (Caroline Street) – Barboursville	North end of concurrency with SR 20
				SR 20 Bus. (Main Street)
Madison	Madison Mills	144.47	232.50	SR 230 west (Orange Road) – Madison
SR 692
SR 692		158.06	254.37	US 15 Bus. north (Orange Road) – Culpeper, Charlottesville	interchange; south end of concurrency with US 29
see US 29
Prince William		192.09	309.14	US 29 north (Lee Highway) – Fairfax, Washington	North end of concurrency with US 29
		194.86	313.60	SR 55 (John Marshall Highway) – Front Royal, Haymarket
	I-66 – Strasburg, Washington	I-66 exit 40, (Diverging diamond interchange)
	Woolsey	198.91	320.11	SR 234 south (Sudley Road) / Waterfall Road (SR 601) – Manassas
Loudoun				Howsers Branch Drive to US 50	Roundabout
	Washington	Roundabout
	US 15 Bus. north (South King Street) – Leesburg, Winchester	interchange; south end of concurrency with SR 7
		216.72	348.78	Dulles Airport, Washington	SR 267 exit 1
		217.88	350.64	Tysons Corner, Alexandria	interchange; north end of concurrency with SR 7
		220.40	354.70	US 15 Bus. south (North King Street) – Leesburg
				Whites Ferry
		230.37	370.74	Point of Rocks Bridge over Potomac River )
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi Concurrency terminus Incomplete access