The SR 168 designation was applied in the
1933 renumbering to three individual roadways:
State Route 529 (northwest from
Newport News towards
Lee Hall),
State Route 532 (Newport News to
Hampton via Shell Road), and
State Route 533 (King Street from Rip Rap Road — then
State Route 513 — south into Hampton). Another piece, from Hampton east on Pembroke Avenue towards
Buckroe Beach, was added to the state highway system in 1932, and was extended to Buckroe Beach in 1936. In the 1930s, SR 168 was extended northwest to
State Route 53 (now
State Route 30) near
Barhamsville. It used Jefferson Avenue and 35th Street in Newport News and Shell Road, Newport News Avenue, Back River Road, Rip Rap Road, King Street, and Pembroke Avenue in Hampton; see
State Route 143 (Barhamsville to Hampton) and
State Route 351 (Hampton to Buckroe Beach) for more history. It intersected U.S. Route 60 at
Anderson's Corner, near
Toano in
James City County. Route 168 was part of a system of state-funded highway improvements after
World War II which preceded the federally funded
Interstate Highway System in Virginia. It provided substantial traffic relief to a number of heavily traveled older U.S. highways, notably including
U.S. Route 60 on the
Virginia Peninsula and
U.S. Route 460 in the Cities of Norfolk and
South Norfolk and
U.S. Route 17 in
Norfolk County (now City of Chesapeake) in
South Hampton Roads.
North Carolina to Willoughby Spit In
Chesapeake, the route originally ran along New Green Sea Road, now known as
Battlefield Boulevard, due to its proximity from the
Battle of Great Bridge. This
arterial is now bypassed by several roads: the
Chesapeake Expressway (a
toll road completed in 2001), the
Great Bridge Bypass (a
bypass route constructed in 1980 and improved through the 1990s), and the Oak Grove Connector (a link from the Great Bridge Bypass to
Interstate 464 completed in 1999). From the north end of the Oak Grove Connector, Route 168 overlaps
Interstate 64 until it rejoins Battlefield Boulevard. The sections of the boulevard bypassed by the mentioned roads are now designated
State Route 168 Business. From
I-64 in Chesapeake, Route 168 follows several roads until it crosses into the City of Norfolk and eventually runs along Tidewater Drive (following the path of the earlier Cottage Toll Road) until reaching its terminus at West Ocean View Avenue (
U.S. Route 60) near Fourth View Street in the
Willoughby Spit area.
Crossing the mouth of Hampton Roads The Route 168 designation formerly continued northwesterly along West Ocean View Avenue and crossed the
Hampton Roads Ferry System from Willoughby Bay to
Old Point Comfort in the
Town of Phoebus in
Elizabeth City County (communities which were consolidated into the newly enlarged City of Hampton in 1952). When it first opened to traffic on November 1, 1957, the
Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel originally carried the VA-168 designation (as a
toll facility). The Route 168 signage and tolls were both removed when the crossing was expanded in 1976 as part of the federally funded
Interstate 64 improvements, which included four-laning the crossing.
On the Virginia Peninsula The SR 168 designation also formerly applied to a routing on the
Virginia Peninsula from Anderson's Corner near
Toano west of
Williamsburg to the Hampton Roads Ferry landing at
Old Point Comfort near
Fort Monroe. Known as the
Merrimack Trail, the road was a major additional highway which was built in the years prior to the creation of the Interstate Highway System, and was replaced as a major through route by Interstate 64, in segments as that new road was completed. Small portions of the roadway on the Peninsula originally signed as SR 168 became portions of
State Route 30 (from Anderson's Corner to Croaker) and
Interstate 64 (Exit 231 to Exit 238). However, most of it from Exit 238 on I-64 east was redesignated as
State Route 143, which continues to serve as an alternative to
U.S. Route 60 most of its length. After Interstate 64 was completed on the Peninsula, both Routes 60 and 143 with many at-grade intersections and businesses became more major conduits for local traffic than through-traffic routes. == Major intersections ==