Virginia State Route 288

For the former State Route 288, see State Route 288 (Virginia 1933-1947).

State Route 288
World War II Veterans Memorial Highway
Route information
Maintained by VDOT
Length	31.77 mi (51.13 km)
Major junctions
South end	I-95 near Chester
Major intersections	US 1 / US 301 near Chester US 360 near Brandermill US 60 near Midlothian US 250 near Short Pump
North end	I-64 near Short Pump
Location
Country	United States
State	Virginia
Counties	Chesterfield, Powhatan, Goochland
Highway system
Virginia Routes Interstate US Primary Secondary Byways History HOT lanes
← SR 287 → SR 289

State Route 288 is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of Virginia. It is a freeway-standard partial beltway around the southwest side of Richmond. SR 288 was officially dedicated as the World War II Veterans Memorial Highway in 2004.

Description of route

SR 288 may be thought of as the southwestern portion of an "outer beltway" of Richmond, although there is no such roadway formally designated. The route begins at Interstate 95 north of Chester, and extends northwesterly through Chesterfield County and Powhatan County. It crosses the James River on the World War II Veterans Memorial Bridge into Goochland County in Richmond's Far West End area, where it terminates at Interstate 64 near Short Pump, near the northern terminus of Interstate 295.

The highway has been built entirely to Interstate standards.

History

Sections of the road were built over a period of more than 15 years. During that time, the planned routing of the northern portion was changed substantially, and not without some conflict within the communities. The 17.4-mile-long southern portion of SR 288 in Chesterfield County (from Interstate 95 to State Route 76 near Midlothian) was completed in 1989.

Initially, the highway was planned to continue north and west of this temporary terminus to connect with Interstate 64 at Interstate 295, creating a seamless straight connection between SR 288 and I-295. This would have formed a partial beltway (I-295 north of I-64 and west of I-95, and SR 288 in the southwest quadrant). There is however no evidence that it was to be an Interstate.

However, this planned corridor and a river crossing into Henrico County west of Richmond was abandoned in 1988. This was due to a peculiarity in the varying powers and abilities of local governments to control growth and preserve rights-of-way resultant from the Byrd Road Act of 1932. While Henrico County had been able to preserve its corridor, there had been development of residential neighborhoods and homes along and within the intended path in Chesterfield County during the years after initial planning. Despite opposition by both Henrico County and the City of Richmond, a more westerly alignment north of VA-76 was selected. Much of the planned section in Henrico County became the John Rolfe Parkway corridor there.

Instead, a more westerly alignment was selected through Powhatan and Goochland Counties, causing a break in what would have been a continuous loop between SR 288 and I-295 at their northern juncture. In 2004, construction of this "western alignment" as it became known was completed, including a new crossing of the James River known as the World War II Veterans Memorial Bridge.

Henrico County was able to preserve its planned corridor for Route 288 from development while Chesterfield County was not. This was partially because Henrico and Arlington County are the only two counties in Virginia which control and maintain their own secondary highways and streets. VDOT handles this for Chesterfield and all other counties, but has little control of residential development.

Exit list

County	Location	mi	km	Destinations	Notes
Chesterfield	​	0.00	0.00	I-95 – Richmond, Petersburg	Southern terminus; exit 62 (I-95); trumpet interchange
	​	0.48	0.77	US 1 / US 301 (Jefferson Davis Highway)	Cloverleaf interchange
	Centralia	2.01	3.23	SR 145 (Chester Road) – Chester	Diamond interchange
	​	5.89	9.48	SR 10 (Iron Bridge Road) – Chesterfield, Richmond	Cloverleaf interchange
	Five Forks	8.84	14.23	SR 604 (Courthouse Road)	Diamond interchange
	​			SR 2055 (Commonwealth Centre Parkway)	no northbound exit
	​	12.93	20.81	US 360 (Hull Street Road) – Amelia, Richmond	Cloverleaf interchange
	​	15.72	25.30	SR 76 (Powhite Parkway) – RichmondModule:Jct warning: "road" parameter is deprecated	Cloverleaf interchange with collector-distributor lanes
	​			SR 720 (Lucks Lane)	Diamond interchange
	​	18.47	29.72	SR 668 (Woolridge Road)	Diamond interchange
	​			SR 667 (Otterdale Road)Module:Jct warning: "road" parameter is deprecated	Southbound access only
	​	20.24	32.57	US 60 (Midlothian Turnpike) – Powhatan, Midlothian	Cloverleaf interchange with collector-distributor lanes
	​			Watkins Centre Parkway (SR 7225)	Southbound access only
Powhatan	​	23.70	38.14	SR 711 (Huguenot Trail / Robious Road)	Diamond interchange; former SR 44
James River		25.24	40.62	World War II Veterans Memorial Bridge
Goochland	​	26.81	43.15	SR 6 (Patterson Avenue) – Goochland, Richmond	Cloverleaf interchange; no direct access from SR 288 south to SR 6 west
	​	27.45	44.18	SR 1250 (West Creek Parkway) to SR 6 west	Partial cloverleaf interchange
	​	29.13	46.88	SR 740 (Tuckahoe Creek Parkway)Module:Jct warning: "road" parameter is deprecated	Cloverleaf interchange; flyover ramps from southbound SR 288 to Capital One Drive and from Capital One Drive to northbound SR 288
	​	30.92	49.76	US 250 (Broad Street)	interchange
	​	31.77	51.13	I-64 to I-295 – Charlottesville, Richmond	Northern terminus; exit 175 (I-64); semi-directional T interchange
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

See also

• Transportation in Richmond, Virginia
• Interstate 295
• State Route 150
• State Route 895

External links

Template:Attached KML/Virginia State Route 288

KML is from Wikidata

• Virginia Highways Project: VA 288
• Roads to the Future website