Allegheny Mountains US 33 enters Virginia at about elevation at Dry River Gap on top of
Shenandoah Mountain at the
West Virginia state line, having climbed steeply from the community of
Brandywine, West Virginia, in the valley of the South Fork of the South Branch of the
Potomac River. US 33 then heads east as Rawley Pike, with a curvaceous descent to the narrow but flat valley of the
Dry River, which the highway follows east through the
George Washington National Forest. East of
Rawley Springs, the highway veers away from the river, leaves the national forest, and passes through a low, wide gap in
Great North Mountain to enter the Shenandoah Valley.
Shenandoah Valley Once in the
Shenandoah Valley, US 33 passes through the hamlets of
Hinton and
Dale Enterprise, then passes to the north of
Mole Hill before entering the
independent city of
Harrisonburg. US 33 continues into Harrisonburg as Market Street, a four-lane
divided highway. The road becomes an undivided highway and then reduces to two lanes at its intersection with
SR 42 (High Street) in downtown Harrisonburg, after which the highway intersects a branch of the
Norfolk Southern Railway's Roanoke District at grade. US 33 meets the southbound direction of
US 11 (Liberty Street), then splits to pass along a two-lane, one-way street surrounding Court Square, the site of the
Rockingham County courthouse. The eastern side of the square, Main Street, is followed by northbound US 11. Both directions of US 33 therefore have short but separate concurrencies with each direction of US 11 around the Courthouse, before US 33 exits the downtown Harrisonburg area as Market Street. US 33 expands to four lanes at Mason Street, then curves south and becomes a divided highway at Vine Street. The highway passes over the Norfolk Southern Railway's Roanoke District rail line, then intersects with
I-81. After I-81, US 33 expands to six lanes, passing through a commercial area that includes the
Harrisonburg Crossing shopping center and the
Valley Mall. Eastward, the route returns to a four-lane highway, and is named Spotswood Trail at the city limits of Harrisonburg. US 33 meets the northern end of
SR 276 (Cross Keys Road) in
Penn Laird as the highway makes a broad curve around the southern end of
Massanutten Mountain, within which is the
Massanutten Resort. The highway crosses the Norfolk Southern rail line again and passes through
McGaheysville, at the base of Massanutten Mountain, continuing to
Elkton at the southern edge of the
Page Valley. West of Elkton,
US 33 Business (Old Spotswood Trail) splits to the north. US 33 then crosses the
South Fork of the Shenandoah River, enters the town limits, and crosses over the Norfolk Southern rail line for the last time. The highway leaves the town at
US 340 (East Side Highway) and the east end of US 33 Business. The route then follows West Swift Run southeast to the hamlet of
Swift Run, after which it reduces to two lanes and begins a curvaceous ascent of the
Blue Ridge, cresting the mountain at
Swift Run Gap at an elevation of , where the highway crosses the
Appalachian Trail and has an intersection with the access road to the
Skyline Drive, the north–south highway through
Shenandoah National Park, then descending to the
Virginia Piedmont.
Piedmont After cresting the
Blue Ridge, US 33 enters
Greene County and has a more gentle descent of the eastern side of the mountain, where the highway follows Swift Run to the hamlet of
Lydia, then passes around the north side of Powell Mountain and meets the stream again west of
Stanardsville, where the road expands to a four-lane divided highway.
US 33 Business (Spotswood Trail) splits to the north to pass through the center of Stanardsville, the county seat of Greene County, while US 33 follows the Stanardsville Bypass. US 33 Business provides access to
SR 230, which heads toward
Madison. US 33 continues southeast through
Quinque and intersects
US 29 (Seminole Trail) in
Ruckersville. East of US 29, US 33 reduces to two lanes and enters
Orange County. The highway has a short concurrency with
SR 20 (Constitution Highway) through
Barboursville, where both highways pass under the Norfolk Southern Railway's Washington District rail line. US 33 passes through a gap in the
Southwest Mountains before reaching
Gordonsville. At the town limit, the U.S. Highway has an intersection with
SR 231 (Blue Ridge Turnpike). US 33 and SR 231 run together a short distance east to the Gordonsville Roundabout, where SR 231 heads southwest as Gordon Avenue toward
Cismont and US 33 becomes concurrent with
US 15 (James Madison Highway) along Main Street. The two highways pass the
Exchange Hotel at their underpass of the
Washington Subdivision, the
Charlottesville–
Orange rail line owned by the
Buckingham Branch Railroad. At the southern edge of downtown Gordonsville, US 33 and US 15 leave Main Street and veer onto Martinsburg Avenue, which follows
CSX's Piedmont Subdivision to the southern limit of Gordonsville, where the highways enter
Louisa County. US 15 continues south as the James Madison Highway toward
Farmville, while US 33 continues paralleling the railroad along Spotswood Trail. At
Trevilians, US 33 becomes concurrent with
SR 22 (Louisa Road). US 33 and SR 22 head into the town of
Louisa as Main Street. On the east side of this county seat, the highways intersect
SR 208 (Courthouse Road). SR 208 joins the two highways for a short distance until the state highways diverge from US 33, following the railroad east along Davis Highway toward
Mineral, near the
epicenter of the
2011 Virginia earthquake, with US 33 continuing southeast along Jefferson Highway. The route passes south of Northeast Creek Reservoir before a short concurrency with
US 522 in
Cuckoo, where US 522 heads north as Pendleton Road toward Mineral and south as Cross County Highway toward
Goochland. Continuing eastward, US 33 then approaches the
Richmond Metropolitan Area.
Richmond metropolitan area Continuing eastward across the Piedmont, US 33 heads southeast into
Hanover County, where the highway is named Mountain Road. The route then passes through the village of
Montpelier, after which it meets the western end of
SR 54 (Patrick Henry Road). US 33 crosses the
South Anna River at Ground Squirrel Bridge northwest of Farrington, then expands to a four-lane divided highway just north of the
Chickahominy River, where the highway enters
Henrico County and becomes Staples Mill Road. It then intersects
I-295, then meets the northern end of
SR 157 (Springfield Road) in the Richmond suburb of
Glen Allen. In the community of
Laurel, US 33 expands to six lanes at its intersection with Parham Road north of the
Richmond Staples Mill Road Amtrak station. In
Dumbarton, US 33 meets the western end of
SR 356 (Hilliard Road) and has a partial cloverleaf interchange with
I-64 with a flyover ramp from westbound I-64 to eastbound US 33. US 33 enters
Richmond, an
independent city, just before the highway meets
US 250 (Broad Street) near
The Shops at Willow Lawn. US 33 and US 250 continue together southeast along this six-lane boulevard toward downtown Richmond. Broad Street also carries the
GRTC Pulse bus rapid transit line. The two highways parallel the city line to
SR 197 (Malvern Avenue), then pass over
I-195 with no direct access. US 33 and US 250 intersect
SR 161 (Arthur Ashe Boulevard) northwest of the
Science Museum of Virginia, in the former
Broad Street railroad station. US 33 and US 250 split just east of the
Siegel Center, home of the
Virginia Commonwealth University Rams basketball teams, with US 250 continuing on Broad Street, while US 33 turns north onto Hancock Street. The federally numbered highway reaches its eastern terminus at Leigh Street, where it becomes
Virginia SR 33. SR 33 then heads east as a state-numbered extension of US 33 through the eastern part of Richmond and
West Point to the
Middle Peninsula on Virginia's
Coastal Plain, reaching the
Chesapeake Bay at
Stingray Point just east of
Deltaville. ==Major intersections==