Virginia State Route 623 (Bland and Tazewell Counties)

Infobox road
state=VA
type=secondary
route=623
alternate_name=Burkes Garden Road
length_mi=20.3
length_ref=PDFlink| [http://www.virginiadot.org/info/resources/AADT_010_Bland_2005.pdf 2005 Virginia Department of Transportation Jurisdiction Report - Daily Traffic Volume Estimates - Bland County] |97.8 KiB ] PDFlink| [http://www.virginiadot.org/info/resources/AADT_092_Tazewell_2005.pdf 2005 Virginia Department of Transportation Jurisdiction Report - Daily Traffic Volume Estimates - Tazewell County] |262 KiB ]
length_round=1
length_notes=(plus a short concurrency with SR 42)
established=by 1934
direction_a=South
direction_b=North
starting_terminus=SR 622 near Sharon Springs
junction= at Sharon Springs
ending_terminus=

State Route 623 is a secondary state highway in Bland County and Tazewell County, Virginia, United States. Mostly known as Burkes Garden Road, it passes through Burkes Garden, a low area surrounded by Garden Mountain. To the north, SR 623 crosses Garden Mountain at "The Gap" (next to Wolf Creek), and crosses Rich Mountain via hairpin turns, ending at State Route 61 at Gratton. To the south, SR 623 crosses both Garden Mountain and Brushy Mountain via hairpins, intersecting State Route 42 at Sharon Springs. After a short concurrency with SR 42 to the southwest, SR 623 ends at State Route 622, a minor road that parallels SR 42.

Seven miles (11 km) of current SR 623, from Gratton southeast to Burkes Garden, was added to the state highway system as State Route 136 in 1930 and 1931. [PDFlink| [http://www.virginiadot.org/meetings/minutes_pdf/CTB-12-1930-02.pdf Minutes of the Meeting of the State Highway Commission of Virginia Held in Lynchburg Virginia, December 18, 1930] |207 KiB , page 4] An additional mile (2 km) was added in 1932, taking it to a point south of the center of Burkes Garden (West End Road - SR 727). [PDFlink| [http://www.virginiadot.org/meetings/minutes_pdf/CTB-07-1932-03.pdf Minutes of the Meeting of the State Highway Commission of Virginia, Held in Marion, Roanoke and Richmond, July 27, 28, and 29, 1932] |281 KiB , page 14] [http://lvaimage.lib.va.us/cgi-bin/vhip_annotated/vhip.pl?&
] , revised July 1, 1936] In the 1933 renumbering, SR 136 was renumbered State Route 87; the rest of the road into Bland County was assigned the SR 623 designation when the secondary routes were numbered. In the 1940 renumbering, SR 87 was renumbered State Route 78 to allow State Route 87 to be used for the connection to North Carolina Highway 87. [PDFlink| [http://www.virginiadot.org/meetings/minutes_pdf/CTB-10-1940-01.pdf Minutes of the Meeting of the State Highway Commission of Virginia, Held in Richmond, October 10, 1940] |332 KiB , page 13] In 1944, the route was transferred to the secondary system, with SR 623 extended over it, as it was a "stub end lightly traveled route" with a 1941 annual average daily traffic of 142. [PDFlink| [http://www.virginiadot.org/meetings/minutes_pdf/CTB-04-1944-01.pdf Minutes of the Meeting of the State Highway Commission of Virginia, Held in Richmond, April 19, 1944] |395 KiB , page 6] In 2005, that part of SR 623 had an AADT of 590.

References