US route endpoints in
Richmond, VA

1934-present

Note: for more info, maps, and photos beyond what is presented on this page, Michael Roberson's material about US 33/VA 33 in Richmond is highly recommended.

US 33 and US 250 have ended in Richmond since the 1930s.  In late 1934, US 250 replaced what had been VA 5 (and before that, VA 41) using Broad Street westward out of Richmond.  A few years later, US 33 was extended into Richmond via Staples Mill Road.  From their intersection at Staples Mill and Broad, the two routes have always (or at least almost always) been overlapped east on Broad into downtown.  This is not commonly understood, partially because most maps are not at a large enough scale to label the concurrency.  Compounding the confusion is the fact that much of the surface highway signage in Richmond is dismal: highways are signed incorrectly in many places, or simply not signed at all.  So the question, "Where exactly do US 33 and US 250 end?" has a somewhat elusive answer... and the answer has changed over the years.

In 1935, southbound US 1 traffic was being directed off Chamberlayne Avenue onto Lombardy Street, then east on Broad, then south on Belvidere Street, crossing the James River via the Robert E. Lee Bridge.  US 60 came from the east via Broad, then south on 2nd Street, which joins Belvidere just north of the Lee Bridge, so the two were concurrent across the river.

From that perspective, straight ahead on Broad was eastbound US 60, while westbound was to the right on 2nd.  ​US 33-250 ended there for nearly 40 years (although during the 1950s US 60 was converted to one-ways and altered three times, potentially changing the technical terminus point one block to the east and/or west on Broad.  But by the end of that decade, the endpoint was back to 2nd and Broad, as explicitly defined in the CTB [Commonwealth Transportation Board] minutes of Sep. 1959.)  

​In 1974, westbound US 60 was rerouted off Broad by turning south on 21st Street, then continuing west on Main Street.  In other words, US 60 was removed from Broad between 2nd and 21st, so US 33-250 was extended east on Broad, presumably to fill in "the gap".  Strangely though, the gap was not entirely filled: US 33-250 was extended only to its junction with US 360 at 17th/18th Street, so the three blocks of Broad between 18th and 21st (US 60) had no US route designation.  Now (at least according to some sources) the endpoint of US 250 has returned to that intersection, so photos from there are shown below, along with further discussion.

At this point, it should be noted that VA hwy. 33 was commissioned in 1938 to run from Richmond eastward to Stingray Point (on Chesapeake Bay just east of Deltaville).  That was the same year US 33 was extended into Richmond, and the state highway number was obviously intended to be viewed as an extension of US 33.  It is unclear why the whole thing out to Stingray Point was not simply designated as US 33; that would have eliminated the question of where US 33 becomes VA 33, and as a result there would not be so many erroneous US 33 signs posted on VA 33 and vice-versa.  But as it stands, US 33 has never officially existed anywhere east of Richmond.  In that city, VA 33 originally ran along Broad, ending wherever US 33 began (at 2nd prior to 1974, and at 18th after that).  However, in 1981 VA 33 was rerouted to its current configuration, which uses the MLK Bridge and Leigh Street to "bypass" Broad.  VA 33 connected to Broad on the west side of downtown, via Harrison and Hancock Streets (which formed a one-way couplet at the time).  When that happened, VDoT presented the following request to AASHTO to truncate the US 33 designation:

AASHTO did approve VDoT's proposal... but in their meeting minutes summarizing what they approved, they completely mischaracterized what VDoT had asked for...

...and I believe that was the genesis of the confusion (which has persisted to this day) about US 33 in Richmond.  Complicating the matter is the fact that the City of Richmond (not VDoT) is responsible for signposting non-interstate routes within its jurisdiction.  So, while VDoT may have thought they got what they wanted from AASHTO, they may not have realized that AASHTO misconstrued what VDoT wanted, and/or they may have failed to communicate that to the City.  At any rate, it has been reported that the way Richmond signposted US 33 in 1981 was more in line with AASHTO's erroneous description (rather than the description that VDoT had submitted to AASHTO).  Since then there have been major inconsistencies in official records that specify exactly where the transition between US 33 and VA 33 takes place:

• Initially Richmond signposted US 33 north of Broad along Harrison/Hancock, then Leigh.  US 33 signage ended (and VA 33 signage began) at the MLK Bridge.

• The Dec. 1981 CTB minutes say VA 33 uses Harrison/Hancock to connect between Leigh and Broad.

• But the May 1982 minutes say VA 33 ends on Leigh at Hancock, while it is US 33 that occupies the Harrison/Hancock couplet.

• AASHTO's 1989 route log describes US 33 as "leaving US 250" (presumably via Harrison/Hancock), then "crossing US 1-301" (presumably Belvidere), and then ending at "jct. VA 33 (MLK Bridge)".  In other words, this description was exactly how Richmond had signposted US 33 in 1981.

• VDoT's route logs from 2001 and 2003 say US 33 ends on Broad at Harrison, and that VA 33 ends at US 250 (Broad).

• But VDoT traffic logs from the same timeframe say eastbound US 33 ends on Hancock at Leigh, while westbound US 33 begins on Broad at Harrison.

• However, today it is impossible for eastbound US 33 traffic to make that movement: drivers cannot make a left turn from eastbound Broad to northbound Hancock because a median is there, and also the block of Hancock north of Broad is one-way southbound.

• Meanwhile, signage is deplorable: there are no US 33 signs on Broad anywhere east of Arthur Ashe Boulevard.  Signage along Harrison, Hancock, Leigh, MLK, Mosby Street, Fairmount Avenue, and Nine Mile Road includes US 33 shields randomly interspersed with VA 33 markers all through the area.  Non-interstate signage is the responsibility of the City, not VDoT, and it is obviously such a low priority in Richmond that it simply cannot be relied upon to determine actual route descriptions.

With all that in mind, it is impossible to determine the "official" endpoint of US 33, because official information is not consistent.  But if we go back to the question, "What was the intended endpoint of US 33 when it was truncated in 1981?" the answer is quite clear, based on the VDoT materials referenced above.

If one were to step out into the street at that location, they would have the perspective shown in the next photo, which can be used to visualize almost all of the Richmond endpoints:

Now that is really perplexing: on the left, it is true that westbound Broad is also westbound US 250.  However, Broad does not pick up US 33 for another two miles.  So a better way to put it might be "WEST US 250 TO US 33"... but even as it stands, at least it is not completely misleading.  But what about the sign on the right, pointing to eastbound Broad?  That actually leads to southbound 17th, which carries westbound US 360 traffic.  US 33 has never been designated east of US 360.  So maybe the intended reference was to VA 33?  But VA 33 does not use Broad, and getting to the real VA 33 involves a fairly complicated series of turns, none of which are posted in the field.  So perhaps that sign was based on pre-1981 routings: it was supposed to have a VA 33 marker, and it hearkens back to the time when VA 33 began to the east on Broad.

It should also be pointed out that, in several places, VA 33 is signposted with US 33 shields.  Based on signage, one could easily get the impression that US 33 somehow shifts over to Leigh Street, goes over the MLK Bridge, then uses Mosby Street and Fairmount Avenue.  As of 2016, the transition between US 33 and VA 33 as signposted appeared to be at the traffic circle where Fairmount junctions 25th Street and Nine Mile Road.

Research and/or image credits: George Bourey; Adam Froehlig; Karin and Martin Karner; Dan Moraseski; Robert Mortell; Alex Nitzman; Mike Roberson; Dale Sanderson; Charles Turner; Will Weaver