End of US highway 60 |
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1926-1930
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1930-1932
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1932-1966
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1966-1969
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1969-present
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The east end of US 60 has always been in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, and specifically in Virginia Beach since 1930. The history of US highway endpoints in that area is quite complex, and even controversial: I have probably spent more time researching this terminus than any of the other 1300+ endpoints. It is all detailed on the Virginia Beach page, but for those who may not be interested in reading through all that material, here is a quick answer to the question of where US 60 ends: this sign is posted at the south end of the Rudee Inlet bridge, just past the point where Pacific Avenue becomes General Booth Boulevard:
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James, Feb. 2016
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Heading west from Virginia Beach, originally the US 60 designation made it only as far as Springfield. Within a few years, it had been extended to Amarillo, and after a couple more years, US 60 essentially became a coast-to-coast route, with its western terminus in Los Angeles (more details on each of those pages).
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US 60 served Los Angeles for over 30 years. During that time, it was essentially a coast-to-coast route, but California ended that when they began eliminating their US routes. Starting in about 1966, US 60 may have been truncated incrementally, but by 1969 it had no independent routing west of its current terminus near Brenda, at I-10's exit 31. This photo shows the last westbound marker:
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Schecter, Jan. 2016
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That is just west of Brenda; the I-10 junction is about three miles ahead, where one comes to the scene shown below:
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Hamilton
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At the time there was no end sign; only markers indicating options at the I-10 interchange. But sometime after 2004, most of the signs at this junction were replaced; note the Clearview version of that same sign, shown here...
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Kaiser, July 2008
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...and what was that mounted on the lightpole in the distance? It is shown close-up here:
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James, Jan. 2016
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Fox, Mar. 2019
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That is a welcome addition. Originally, US 60 continued straight ahead, along the corridor now occupied by I-10. West of here, it was co-signed with US 70, roughly following today's I-10 all the way into L.A. Here is a view of the exit to US 60 as seen from eastbound I-10:
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Karners, Jan. 2012
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Traffic exits to the right, crosses the bridge visible in the background, and then continues roughly the same direction as this photo. This next shot is from the opposite direction (westbound I-10)...
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Field, 2003
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...before the green sign was replaced with a Clearview version. Upon exiting there, drivers are presented with this sign:
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Field/Nitzman, Jan. 2005
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The white car has just exited from the opposite direction (eastbound I-10) and crossed over the freeway. The signage in the distance is shown close-up here:
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Field, 2003 (now replaced with Clearview version)
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Left goes across the overpass to the eastbound onramp. The road to the right curves and merges to join the historic alignment of US 60, which now only goes east from here. Heading that direction, this sign soon comes into view:
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Field/Nitzman, Jan. 2005 (gone as of 2016)
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That is the first eastbound confirming marker from the beginning of US 60. Next is a close-up photo of the mileage sign visible in the distance:
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Field/Nitzman, Jan. 2005
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Brenda itself is about three miles in that direction (and as of 2016, that is how far one has to drive before encountering the first eastbound US 60 marker; apparently the one shown above is gone). By making just a little bit better use of the space on that sign, one more destination could have been added, and my suggestion would be: Virginia Beach - 2670 miles. That sign has since been replaced with a Clearview version: the content is the same, except there is no reference to "Hope", and there is no space to add another control city.
Research and/or photo credits: Mike Ballard; Jake Bear; Nathan Edgars; Andy Field; Joe Fox; Alan Hamilton; Robert James; Cameron Kaiser; Karin and Martin Karner; Jeff Morrison; Alex Nitzman; Dale Sanderson; James Schecter
Page originally created 1999;
last updated Mar. 29, 2019.
last updated Mar. 29, 2019.
