Virginia State Route 27 (1940-1953)

Infobox road
state=VA
type=
route=27
established=1940
deleted=1953

State Route 27 was a primary state highway in the U.S. state of Virginia. At its peak, it ran from near Powhatan to Sperryville via Columbia, Louisa, Orange, and Madison. The route was never continuous, with gaps filled by secondary routes. The route was at first known as State Route 16 from 1918 to 1940; the State Route 16 designation was needed in the 1940 renumbering to match other states, and so the road was SR 27 from 1940 to the final decommissioning in 1953.

The former SR 27 now carries the following designations:
*State Route 684, U.S. Route 60 near Powhatan to State Route 45 near Cartersville
*State Route 690, near Cartersville to State Route 6 in Columbia
*State Route 659, Columbia to U.S. Route 250 at Ferncliff
*State Route 208, Ferncliff to U.S. Route 33 in Louisa
*State Route 669 and State Route 612, Louisa to U.S. Route 15 in Orange
*State Route 230, US 15 at Madison Mills to U.S. Route 29 near Madison
*State Route 231, Madison to U.S. Route 211 at Sperryville

History

In the initial 1918 state highway system, State Route 16 ran from State Route 2 (now U.S. Route 15) at Madison Mills to State Route 3 (now U.S. Route 11) at New Market via Madison and Luray, crossing the Blue Ridge Mountains at Fishers Gap. [CTB minutes|07-1922-01, Proposed "State Highway System" for Virginia, as Recommended by the State Roads Committee, January, 1918] North of Madison, this was the path of the Blue Ridge Turnpike. In 1921, the State Highway Commission recommended that the legislature relocate SR 16 to run via Sperryville and Thornton Gap rather than Stanley to "eliminate a very difficult and expensive crossing of the Blue Ridge" and provide "a direct connection with the Lee Highway at Sperryville". [CTB minutes|12-1921-01, page 49] By 1923, SR 16 was truncated to Sperryville; the piece from Sperryville west to New Market became an extension of State Route 21. [CTB minutes|05-1923-02, page 3]

References