End of US highway 501 |
1926-1934
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1934-1938?
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1938?-1944
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1944-present
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This photo was looking east at the south end of US 501. Here, southbound US 17 traffic is directed to turn right on 8th Avenue North, and then right again on historic US 17 (now Business US 17), or Kings Highway. Main Street traffic that continues straight (to the left in this photo) merges with Kings Hwy, but there was no indication that is northbound Bus. 17:
Heading the opposite direction (north on Bus. 17), US 501 traffic is not directed all the way to Main; instead 3rd Avenue South is signed as "TO US 501 North". If a traveler misses that, Kings Hwy meets Main at a fairly sharp angle, so left turns are not permitted at that intersection. Instead drivers are directed to turn left at 8th Av North...
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...and then left again at Main after about a half-block. In the photo above, that sign has since been replaced with a simple "JCT US 501" sign, with no directional arrow. The light in the distance is Main, or mainline 501. Once drivers have turned onto that road, the first northbound US 501 sign is posted immediately:
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Also in 1934 the north end of US 501 was rerouted to go north from Halifax, through Lynchburg, to its current terminus at its junction with US 60 in Buena Vista (by the way, forget anything you know about Spanish: locals pronounce this "Byoo-nuh VIS-tuh", just like the Buena Vista in Colorado):
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At the time, there was no railroad crossing on 29th Street, so US 60 traffic used a slightly different path through town. Heading west, US 60 turned south for a couple blocks on today's US 501 (Beech Avenue), then used Factory Street to cross the railroad. From there, north on Alleghany Avenue, which at the time crossed Chalk Mine Run and curved west onto Orchard Street, which aligned with current US 60 (29th), as shown here:
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That was looking north on US 501, which currently turns right for two blocks and ends at its junction with US 60 (as we will see below). But in the mid-1930s, US 501 ended there, while straight ahead on Factory was westbound US 60, and eastbound US 60 was to the right on Beech.
...however, in about 1940 US 60-501 traffic was moved one block south, to Nelson Street. But that did not last for long either: US 501 was truncated back to Buena Vista in about 1944. By then US 60 had been changed to its current configuration along 29th Street, so US 501 ended at the same location it does today: on Beech at 29th:
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Research and/or photo credits: Justin Cozart; Martin Karner; Alex Nitzman; Steve Osborne; Adam Prince; Mike Roberson; Dale Sanderson; Michael Summa; Collin Sweeney
Page originally created 2001;
last updated Feb. 20, 2020.
last updated Feb. 20, 2020.