In 1928, SR520 was designated to run from US13 in Oak Hall east toward Chincoteague Island, being extended onto the island in 1930. The route was extended south along US13 and west to a railroad crossing west of Oak Hall in 1930. SR520 became SR175 in the 1933 Virginia state highway renumbering. SR175 was extended south on Main Street in Chincoteague a year later and east on Beebe Road the following year, at which time a spur route known as SR175Y was designated onto the northern portion of Main Street. The western terminus was moved to its current location in 1947, with the section west of US13 becoming part of SR703. SR175 was routed to bypass Wallops Station to the south in 1954. In 1992, the section of SR175 in Chincoteague, along with all of SR175Y, was transferred to the secondary system. SR175 was rerouted to bypass Marsh Island and a swing bridge over Chincoteague Channel with a new bascule bridge further north in 2010, tying into Main Street at Maddox Boulevard. The former swing bridge was demolished and a spur off the new bridge was built to serve Marsh Island.
Route description
SR175 begins at an intersection with US13 (Lankford Highway) at Nash Corner4 miles (6.4km) south of the Maryland state line. The state highway heads east as two-lane undivided Chincoteague Road through a mix of farmland and woodland. Upon reaching the community of Wattsville, the highway intersects SR679 (Fleming Road) and SR798 (Mill Dam Road). The road crosses over Wallops Pond, an impoundment of Wattsville Branch of Mosquito Creek, onto Wallops Island. SR175 heads east, intersecting SR798 (Atlantic Avenue) again, then curves north through Wallops Island National Wildlife Refuge and around NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, a rocket launch site operated as a subsidiary of Goddard Space Flight Center. While heading north parallel to one of the flight facility's runways, the state highway passes the NASA Visitor Center. SR175 curves to the east as it passes the main entrance to the flight facility.[2][3][4]
SR175 heads east onto the John B. Whealton Memorial Causeway between the mainland and Chincoteague Island. The causeway passes over marshland adjacent to the southern end of Chincoteague Bay and includes bridges over Mosquito Creek, Cockle Creek, Queen Sound Channel, and Wire Narrows. A fifth bridge curves to the north and then east around the northern end of Marsh Island to cross Black Narrows and Chincoteague Channel onto Chincoteague Island. The bridge has a bascule span over Chincoteague Channel and lands on Chincoteague Island north of the downtown area. Marsh Island is served by a connector bridge that meets SR175 over Black Narrows. SR175 reaches its eastern terminus at Main Street in the town of Chincoteague. The roadway continues east as Maddox Boulevard toward Assateague Island.[2][3][4] SR175 serves as the access road from US13 to both Chincoteague and the Virginia section of Assateague Island.[5]
History
A causeway linking Chincoteague Island to the mainland was proposed by John B. Whealton, who formed the Chincoteague Toll Road and Bridge Company in 1919. On November15,1922, the causeway to Chincoteague Island was completed. Tolls were collected on the causeway until 1930.[6] The road between US13 in Oak Hall and Chincoteague Island became a part of the state highway system as SR520 in August1928.[7] The route was extended onto Chincoteague Island in June1930.[8] In December of that year, SR520 was extended south on US13 and west along CR107 to a railroad crossing west of Oak Hall.[9] In the 1933 Virginia state highway renumbering, SR520 was replaced with SR175.[10] In August1934, SR175 was extended south along Main Street in Chincoteague on the former SR717.[11] A year later, the route was extended east along Beebe Road to the boundary of Chincoteague.[12] The western terminus of SR175 was cut back to its current location at US13 in June1947, with an extension of SR703 replacing the small section of the route that extended west from US13.[13] SR175 was rerouted to bypass the Wallops Station facility to the south in May1954; SR798 was assigned to part of the former alignment.[14][15] The SR175 designation was removed from Main Street and Beebe Road in June1992 when that stretch of road was transferred to the secondary system, leaving the eastern terminus at Main Street just east of the causeway onto the island.[16]
In January2007, construction began to build a new bridge to Chincoteague Island for SR175.[17] This new crossing was built as the old bridges were narrow and deteriorating, in addition to reducing traffic congestion in downtown Chincoteague and providing a more direct route to the island's main commercial district and Assateague Island. The project constructed a bascule bridge over Black Narrows and Chincoteague Channel that would enter the island and terminate at Main Street and Maddox Boulevard, replacing the previous crossing by way of Marsh Island that consisted of a swing bridge over the Chincoteague Channel. A connector bridge was built to serve Marsh Island. SR175 was relocated to the new bridge in October2010. The old bridge over Black Narrows and the swing bridge over Chincoteague Channel were demolished following the completion of the new bridge.[18]
State Route175Y (SR175Y) was an eight-tenths-mile-long (1.3km)spur route of SR175 in Chincoteague. The route ran from SR175 near the eastern end of the original causeway onto the island north along Main Street to the northern border of Chincoteague.[16][19] When SR175Y was designated in August1935, it replaced a section of SR717.[12] The route was transferred to the secondary system in June1992.[16]
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article SR_175_(VA), and is written by contributors.
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