State Route 74 (SR 74) is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of Virginia. Known for most of its length as Kentucky Avenue, the state highway runs 2.42 miles (3.89 km) from U.S. Route 23 Business (US 23 Business) and US 58 Alternate Business in Norton east to US 58 Alternate near Norton. SR 74 is the old alignment of US 58 Alternate in Norton. The highway was designated in 1958 from its western terminus to Kentucky Avenue and extended east in 1988.
State Route 74 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained by VDOT | ||||
| Length | 2.42 mi[1] (3.89 km) | |||
| Existed | 1958–present | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| West end |   US 23 Bus. in Norton | |||
| East end |    US 58 Alt. / SR 681 near Norton | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United States | |||
| State | Virginia | |||
| Counties | City of Norton, Wise | |||
| Highway system | ||||
| ||||
Route description edit
_just_east_of_U.S._Route_23_Business_and_U.S._Route_58_Alternate_Business_(Park_Avenue)_in_Norton,_Virginia.jpg)
SR 74 begins at US 23 Bus. and US 58 Alt. Bus. (Park Avenue) at the eastern end of downtown Norton. The state highway heads southeast on Coeburn Avenue, which has oblique, at-grade crossings with a pair of rail lines. Just east of the second crossing, SR 74 turns onto Kentucky Avenue. The state highway passes under the freeway carrying US 23 and US 58 Alternate. The highway has another at-grade rail intersection in the eastern portion of the city of Norton. Shortly after leaving the city limits, SR 74 curves north to pass under one of the rail lines and over the Guest River and reaches its eastern terminus at US 58 Alternate (Norton Coeburn Road) in the hamlet of Ramsey in Wise County. The roadway continues north as SR 681 (Bear Creek Road).[1][2]
History edit
SR 74 was initially part of SR 11, defined in 1918. It became part of SR 64 in 1933, SR 70 in 1940, and US 58 Alt. in the early 1950s. The first piece of SR 74 was designated in 1958 along Coeburn Road west of Kentucky Avenue,[3] though it did not exist until the new US 58 Alternate along 11th Street and Kentucky Avenue was completed in 1960.[4] The new US 58 Alternate (now partly US 23 Bus. and SR 283) in eastern Norton was completed in 1988, and SR 74 was extended east over the old road.[5]
Major intersections edit
| County | Location | mi[1] | km | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City of Norton | 0.00 | 0.00 |  US 23 Bus. / US 58 Alt. Bus. – Business District, Wise, University of Virginia Wise, Appalachia | Western terminus | |
 To US 58 Alt. / Kentucky Avenue | former US 58 Alt. west | ||||
| Wise | | 2.42 | 3.89 | US 58 Alt. (Norton Coeburn Road) / SR 681 (Bear Creek Road) to US 23 – Norton, Coeburn | Eastern terminus |
| 1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi | |||||
References edit
- ^ a b c "2009 Traffic Data". Virginia Department of Transportation. 2009. Retrieved 2011-09-10.
- ^ Google (2011-09-10). "Virginia State Route 74" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved 2011-09-10.
- ^ "Minutes of the Meeting of the State Highway Commission of Virginia, Held in Roanoke and Richmond May 14-16, 1958" (PDF). (757 KiB), pages 11-12
- ^ "Minutes of the Meeting of the State Highway Commission of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia, August 18, 1960" (PDF). (1.18 MiB), page 39
- ^ "Minutes of Meeting of the Commonwealth Transportation Board, Richmond, Virginia, June 16, 1988" (PDF). (742 KiB), page 3
External links edit
