History
One of the first two pieces of current SR 16 to be added to the state highway system was the road from Mouth of Wilson north to State Route 650 (Comers Creek Road) north of Troutdale, which was part of State Route 12 (the predecessor to U.S. Route 58) by 1923. Part of this, from Mouth of Wilson to Volney, still carries US 58.
At the other end, the State Highway Commission recommended that the General Assembly add the road from Tazewell north to North Tazewell to the state highway system in late 1921, as part of a relocation of State Route 11 (now U.S. Route 19/U.S. Route 460) to serve North Tazewell rather than Tazewell. The relocation was not made, but the spur and its continuation north to West Virginia was added, and was numbered State Route 117 in the 1923 renumbering. (The current route of US 19/US 460 does bypass Tazewell on much the same alignment as the SHC recommended.)
By 1927, SR 117 had become part of State Route 105, which continued south from Tazewell to Glade Spring along current State Route 91. This part of SR 16 north of Tazewell, along with the road south to Glade Spring, was renumbered State Route 112 in the 1928 renumbering and State Route 81 in the 1933 renumbering, not being split at Tazewell until 1940.
In 1928, the next piece of SR 16, running north and south from State Route 10 (now U.S. Route 11 in Marion, 6.8 miles (10.9 km) in each direction, was added to the state highway system as State Route 113. Further extensions were added south to SR 12 (now State Route 650) in 1930 and 1931 and north for 1.90 miles (3.06 km) and 3.00 miles (4.83 km) in 1931 and 1932 respectively (taking it to Chatham Hill). In 1932, a 4.78-mile (7.69 km) piece on the other side of Brushy Mountain was added, from SR 11 near Tazewell south to SR 602 (Pleasant Hill Church Road) at Criggers.
Both pieces of SR 113 - through Marion and south from Tazewell - became State Route 88 in the 1933 renumbering. In 1933 and 1934, the Marion section was extended north to State Route 42. The final piece in Smyth County was added in 1936; the gap in Tazewell County was filled in 1937 and 1938.
The whole piece of present SR 16 from State Route 12 (now U.S. Route 58) at Mouth of Wilson southwest to North Carolina Highway 681 (now North Carolina Highway 16) was added in 1931 as State Route 139. It was renumbered State Route 92 in the 1933 renumbering.
In the 1940 renumbering, the present route of State Route 16 was assigned over all of SR 92 and SR 88 and the part of SR 81 north of Tazewell. (The rest of SR 81 was simultaneously renumbered State Route 91, and U.S. Route 58 was removed from the Volney-Troutdale piece of SR 16.) At the same time, North Carolina Highway 681 and West Virginia Route 12 were renumbered as North Carolina Highway 16 and West Virginia Route 16, forming a three-state route.
Read more about this topic: Virginia State Route 16
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