Virginia State Route 76 (1933-1970)

Infobox road
state=VA
type=
route=76
established=1933
deleted=1970

State Route 76 was a primary state highway in Washington County, Virginia, United States and the independent city of Bristol. It ran northeast from downtown Bristol on King Mill Pike and Old Airport Road to a junction with U.S. Route 11/U.S. Route 19 south of Wallace. The former SR 76 now lies entirely within the Bristol city limits and is locally maintained.PDFlink| [http://www.virginiadot.org/info/resources/AADT_095_Washington_2005.pdf 2005 Virginia Department of Transportation Jurisdiction Report - Daily Traffic Volume Estimates - Washington County] |356 KiB ]

SR 76 was added to the state highway system in 1928 and 1934 (for 3.24 mi/5.21 km and the remaining 0.76 mi/1.22 km respectively); it was numbered State Route 109 before 1933. [CTB minutes|08-1928-02, page 13] [CTB minutes|09-1934-01] The piece inside Bristol was added as a locally-maintained extension in 1932, beginning at State Street and Front Street (now Randall Street) and running along Front Street, Mary Street, Goodson Street, Danville Avenue, Fairview Street, and Massachusetts Avenue to the city line east of Montpelier Avenue. [CTB minutes|07-1932-02, page 8] [http://lvaimage.lib.va.us/cgi-bin/vhip_annotated/vhip.pl?&
] , revised July 1, 1936]

Goodson Street between State Street and Mary Street was reconstructed in the late 1930s, [CTB minutes|05-1937-01, page 5] and, once that project was completed, SR 76 was rerouted to use it, beginning at State and Goodson. (State was U.S. Route 421 there, turning south at that intersection onto Pennsylvania Avenue.) The former alignment on Front Street was removed from the state highway system, but the Mary Street piece, and its extension west to Oakview Avenue (U.S. Route 11/U.S. Route 19/U.S. Route 58, now State Route 113), became State Route 76Y. [http://www.vahighways.com/route-log/va061-080.htm#va76 Virginia Highways Project: VA 76] ] (SR 76 may have continued west on State Street to downtown; it did so by 1952. [CTB minutes|05-1952-01, page 18] )

In 1966, the piece of SR 76 inside Bristol was removed from the state highway system, as part of the reconfiguration brought about by Euclid Avenue. Former SR 76 on Goodson Street south of Mary Street, as well as all of SR 76Y (Mary Street from Goodson Street west to Oakview Avenue), became a part of a realigned U.S. Route 421, while the rest of SR 76 to the city limits (near East Valley Drive) was removed entirely. [CTB minutes|12-1966-01, pages 17-19] The remaining three miles (5 km) of SR 76 were downgraded to secondary State Route 895 in 1970 at the request of Washington County; [CTB minutes|04-1970-01, page 17] SR 895 itself was later swallowed up by the expanding city limits of Bristol.

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