Virginia State Route 20 is a route that goes from VA-3 in Wilderness to US 15 in Dillwyn. It connects the City of Charlottesville with the towns of Orange and Scottsville.
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| VA-20 Shield |
The Route Path:
VA-20 starts at VA-3 just west of the Orange/Spotsylvania County line. It goes through rural northern Orange County, before reaching the small unincorporated community of Rhoadesville. The Route then goes and intersects US 522.
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| VA-20 beginning at VA-3. |
After intersecting US 522, VA-20 passes by Unionville. VA-20 then goes through more rural areas. Before reaching Orange, VA-20 does pass by the Orange County Airport. Entering Orange, Business VA-20 splits off from the main route, as VA-20 reaches an intersection with US 15 just after. They both go concurrent into downtown Orange. A couple blocks later, the routes split, and Business VA-20 comes back to VA-20.
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VA-20 Northbound approaching US 15 in Orange.
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Leaving Orange, VA-20 once again starts going back to a rural road. It stays that way for a couple miles, before reaching Montpelier Station, which provides access to James Madison’s Montpelier. VA-20 then returns to its rural course before reaching the VA-231 intersection, which was turned into a Roundabout around 2021.
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| VA-20 Northbound after the VA-231 Roundabout. |
VA-20 then intersects the east end of SR-609, before the route continues south through central Orange County, as it slowly approaches Barboursville. It passes through more rural areas, before reaching Barboursville at its intersection and west end of its concurrency with US 33.
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| A sign on US 33 just west of the VA-20 Concurrency. |
VA-20 runs concurrent with US 33 through Barboursville, and splits off for Charlottesville. The route goes south for about 1.3 miles and goes into Albemarle County. Around 5 miles later, VA-20 enters the tiny unincorporated community of Stony Point and takes a sharp left at its intersection with SR-600.
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| VA-20 Northbound approaching SR-600. |
After about 2.5 miles, the route has a roundabout with SR-649 and SR-1494. Not long after, VA-20 passes by some rural subdivisions as it gets closer to Charlottesville. Eventually, the route intersects US 250. VA-20 turns west onto US 250 across the Rivanna River, and into Charlottesville.
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| A sign for VA-20 from US 250. |
Just after entering the city, VA-20 leaves US 250 and starts a concurrency with Business US 250. In downtown Charlottesville, the route turns onto Avon Street for just over 3,000 feet, before turning onto Monticello Avenue. After going through downtown, VA-20 widens, and has an interchange with I-64 as it re-enters Albemarle County.
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| VA-20 Northbound at the I-64 interchange. |
After I-64, the route intersects College Drive, which has a near hidden designation of VA-388. Just after the intersection, VA-20 intersects VA-53, providing access to Monticello. Just about 2 miles later, the route intersects SR-738, Avon Street Extended. A few miles later, SR-708 is intersected, then about 3 miles later, VA-20 reaches Keene, where it intersects SR-712.
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| VA-20 intersects SR-712. |
The route continues southeast, and about 5 miles later, VA-20 reaches Scottsville, where it intersects and goes on a concurrency with VA-6. Both routes reach Downtown Scottsville, and split. VA-20 then crosses the James River into Buckingham County.
The route goes through rural Buckingham County. It intersects many rural secondary roads, and doesn’t pass anything very interesting until near the very end of the route path, and when VA-20 does appear to go into a populated area, it reaches its southern end at US 15. The road itself continues south as Dillwyn's Main Street, and returns to US 15 in the town.
My Experiences:
I have been on VA-20 many times. It is the closest state route to me, and is my favorite state route in Virginia, hence the reason for me creating it as the first ever Route Post here. The route was an important part of my December 10, 2022 road trip to Waynesboro, which was a reason I created Hunty Roads. VA-20 was also the main route for my 1/8/23 Trip. It is important in multiple other trips of mine.
