VA 26 initial route 1933 Official

VA 26 down to Clover 1940 Official

VA 26 truncated to VA 40 1954 Official

In May 1954 (CTB), VA 26 south was truncated to VA 24 (now SR 748) Appomattox, leaving behind lengthy SR 727, a bit of VA 131, a little US 460, and some of SR 677.
In 1965, VA 26 was extended north to the rerouted US 60 at its new James River Bridge.
About 1994, VA 26's south end shifted west slightly to meet the new US 460 Bypass, leaving behind SR 658 Bible Baptist Rd.

VA 26 truncated to VA 40 1955 Official

VA 26 doesn't touch US 460 1958 Appomattox County

Improvements:  Fully paved upon designation from Appomattox to Bent Creek plus the VA 40 duplex.
In 1938, VA 26 was paved from Clover to Mt. Laurel
In 1939, VA 26 was paved from Appomattox to Phenix
In 1940, VA 26 was paved from Mt. Laurel to the Roanoke River and from Phenix south about halfway to the Roanoke River.
Between 1942-44, VA 26 became fully paved.
There are no multilane segments on VA 26.
Posted:  Fully posted;
Multiplexes:  None
Legislative names:  None
Other names:  Oakville Rd
Scenic Byway:  No segments
Comment: VA 26 connects northern Appomattox County between US 60 and US 460.
The decommissioned portions of VA 26 are very nicely aligned and it seems silly to have gone to the trouble of rebuilding these roads to be a state highway to then turn around and dump them.
The 1939 VDOT report on primary system development had recommended that VA 26 be decommissioned from Appomattox to US 60.

VA 26 #1: Began in January 1918 as an original state route defined by the general assembly: Route 26: Pulaski, Mechanicsburg, Bland C.H. VA 26 used today's VA 99 north of Pulaski, then SR 738 (except used Jake Buford Blvd) to VA 42 west to SR 1005 and south on VA 98 to Bland C.H. In March 1923 (CTB), VA 26 was removed from this routing entirely. VA 26 #2: Created March 1923 (CTB) as the new state route to Bland C.H. The 1923 Official shows VA 26 running directly from Wytheville to Bland C.H. via today's SR 603 to Carnot, then an old trail which was the old Raleigh-Grayson Turnpike, then Bland SR 656 to the Courthouse area. The March 1923 CTB describes VA 26 as using the Sharon Route: US 52's general routing from Wytheville to Walker Mountain, then used SR 621 northwest to VA 42 ner Effna east back to Bland C.H.

VA 26 #1 1922 Auto Trails

In March 1924 (CTB), VA 26 was extended south as new primary routing from Wytheville 2 miles. Also, VA 26 was extened north as new primary routing 2 miles towards Bastian.
Also in March 1924, a separate piece of VA 26 was born running 2 miles north from VA 12 (now US 58) Independence.
In Sept 1924 (CTB), VA 26 was rerouted on Walker Mountain to follow US 52's general routing over to Bland C.H.
In Jan 1925 (CTB), the southern piece of VA 26 was extended from Independence south to the NC Line; the northern piece was extended north 8.5 miles.
In Dec 1925 (CTB), VA 26 was extended north to the West Virginia line, while the lengthy gap between Independence and Wytheville was also added to the primary system. This was done outside the normal mileage allocation to conform to the interstate numbering system approved by the Department of Agriculture.
In late 1926, US 21 was added to the entirety of VA 26.
About 1932, VA 26 was removed from SR 628 in Rocky Gap.
In July 1933, VA 26 was dropped from US 21.

VA 26 #2 1923 Official

VA 26 expanded 1925 Official

VA 26 complete from NC to WV 1926 Official

Today, the route is US 21/221 from NC to Independence except at the New River it used Grandview Ln and Old River Ln (SR 700/701). North of Independence, VA 26 followed some abandoned alignments; SR 825 at Longs Gap; SR 614 at Elk Creek; In Wythe County VA 26 used abandoned alignments west of US 21 then the lengthy (and now discontinuous) SR 684 through Speedwell and Stroupes Store before dancing with US 21 one more time south of Wytheville. In Wytheville, VA 26 used Railroad Ave to 18th St north to Main over to Tazewell St back to current US 21 which becomes US 52 at I-81. VA 26 used US 52 to Bland CH except Green Acres Dr/loops at/near SR 656; several abandoned loops out to SR 680; SR 659 Kegley Dr west of I-77. VA 26 followed US 52 from Bland CH to SR 612 then abandoned east of I-77 that winds more than a mile. VA 26 picks up again on SR 648 back to US 52 at Bastian. VA 26 followed US 52 to South Gap except for SR 642 through Hicksville. VA 26 then followed I-77 north's right-of-way until it curves nW to the VA 61 interchange. VA 26 picked up SR 685 to Rocky Gap, then US 52 north to VA 598. VA 26 followed VA 598 halfway up the mountain, the switched back northeast on what is now abandoned routing to the West Virginia line in the vicinity of the I-77/US 52 tunnel. This crossing was abandoned in late 1932 or early 1933 so it is unclear at this time if VA 26 was moved to VA 598's current route to West Virginia. This VA 26 was part of a multi-state route 26 as the route continued south as NC 26 through Charlotte to South Carolina where the route continued as SC 26 to Georgetown, SC. Alas, West Virginia had their continuation as WV 8. VA 26Y: Created Dec 1930 (CTB) as new primary routing, running from US 21/VA 26-42 south 0.5 miles to and past the Bland County Courthouse. A small part of this was part of the Raleigh-Grayson Turnpike that had briefly been part of VA 26 earlier. VA 26Y was renumbered as VA 98 in July 1933 and remains that way today.

VA 26 northeast into West Virginia 1932 Bland County VA 26-Y 1932 Official