State Route 55
Route information
Maintained byVDOT
Length	64.71 mi[1][2][3][4][5] (104.14 km)
Existed	1928–present
Tourist routes	Virginia Byway
Major junctions
West end	US 48 /WV 55 nearStar Tannery
Major intersections	I-81 /US 48 inStrasburg US 11 in Strasburg US 340 /US 522 inFront Royal I-66 /US 17 inMarshall SR 245 inThe Plains US 15 inHaymarket
East end	US 29 /SR 619 inGainesville
Location
Country	United States
State	Virginia
Counties	Frederick,Shenandoah,Warren,Fauquier,Prince William
Highway system
Virginia Routes Interstate US Primary Secondary Byways History HOT lanes
←SR 54 SR 55 →SR 56

State Route 55 (SR 55) is a primarystate highway in theU.S. state ofVirginia. Known for most of its length as John Marshall Highway, the state highway runs 64.71 miles (104.14 km) from theWest Virginia state line, where the highway continues asWest Virginia Route 55 (WV 55), east toU.S. Route 29 (US 29) inGainesville. West of its interchange withInterstate 81 (I-81) inStrasburg, SR 55runs concurrently with the easternmost portion ofUS 48 as part ofCorridor H. East ofFront Royal, the state highway serves as the local complement ofI-66 as it passes through the towns ofMarshall,The Plains, andHaymarket.

Most of SR 55 is aVirginia Byway.

SR 55 begins at the West Virginia state line at the highway's summit ofGreat North Mountain. The highway continues west toward Wardensville as US 48 and WV 55. SR 55 heads northeast as two-lane undivided Wardensville Pike throughGeorge Washington National Forest and descends the mountain to the hamlet of Star Tannery, where the highway leavesFrederick County by crossing Cedar Creek.^[1][6] The state highway, now named John Marshall Highway, passes around the northern end of Little North Mountain near the community ofWheatfield, where the highway turns south. SR 55 passes through theShenandoah County communities ofLebanon Church andClary on its way to adiamond interchange with I-81, which serves as US 48's eastern terminus. SR 55 continues south into the town of Strasburg, where the highway has a short concurrency withUS 11 on Massanutten Street and passes underNorfolk Southern Railway'sB-Line, which it crosses several more times due to the B-Line’s similar route, ending in Manassas. In the center of the town, US 11 and SR 55 head west and east, respectively, on King Street. The state highway passes under the B-Line again before reaching the eastern edge of town, where the highway becomes Front Royal Road and makes a curve to the south. SR 55 passes through anS-curve as it crosses theNorth Fork Shenandoah River intoWarren County.^[2][6]

Just north ofSignal Knob, the northernmost peak ofMassanutten Mountain, SR 55 passes to the south side of the B-Line. The highway, now named Strasburg Road, crosses Passage Creek on its way to theRiverton area of the town of Front Royal at the confluence of the North Fork andSouth Fork Shenandoah River to form theShenandoah River. In Riverton, SR 55 turns south onto Shenandoah Avenue and joinsUS 340 andUS 522 in a triple concurrency. The four-lane undivided highway crosses the South Fork and passes through a pair of right-angle curves onto 14th Street and then Royal Avenue. Just north of downtown Front Royal, US 522 turns southeast onto Commerce Street; SR 55 and US 340 continue south as a two-lane undivided street through downtown. At the southern end of the town, US 340 continues south while the state highway turns east onto four-lane undivided South Street, gaining acenter left-turn lane further east. East of US 522, SR 55 reduces to two lanes and leaves the town of Front Royal as John Marshall Highway. The state highway passes under the B-Line just before its junction withSR 79 (Apple Mountain Road), a very short connector with I-66. SR 55, I-66, and the B-Line follow Manassas Run to the community ofLinden, where the thoroughfares intersect theAppalachian Trail, crossBlue Ridge Mountain atManassas Gap, and enterFauquier County.^[3][6]

SR 55 continues to parallel I-66 and the B-Line through the valley ofGoose Creek, where they pass throughMarkham. The two highways leave Goose Creek and the B-Line west ofDelaplane, where SR 55 veers away from I-66 temporarily and joinsUS 17 (Winchester Road) in a concurrency before the two highways merge onto I-66 nearOak Hill, the country estate ofJohn Marshall. The highways are directly paralleled on the north by the highway's old alignment, Grove Lane. Just west of the town of Marshall, SR 55 exits I-66 at a diamond interchange onto Free State Road. SR 55, which is concurrent withUS 17 Business, turns east onto Main Street at Grove Lane. In the center of town, US 17 Business heads south on Winchester Road opposite SR 710 (Rectortown Road) while SR 55 continues east on Main Street, which intersects the B-Line before leaving town. SR 55 continues east and becomes the Main Street of the town of The Plains, where the highway meets the B-Line at another grade crossing and intersects the northern end ofSR 245 (Old Tavern Road). SR 55, I-66, and the B-Line followBroad Run through theBull Run Mountains atThoroughfare Gap intoPrince William County.^[4][6]

SR 55 crosses the B-Line again at the hamlet ofThoroughfare. The state highway intersectsUS 15 (James Madison Highway) just west of the town of Haymarket; in that town the highway is known as Washington Street. SR 55 continues southeast to Gainesville, where the highway reaches its eastern terminus. As of June 2011 SR 55 has been re-routed over the old Gallerher Road, and is now called John Marshall Highway. The US 29–SR 55 junction is the focus of a long-term project to provide grade separations between the B-Line (the last crossing by SR 55) and both the John Marshall Highway and US 29, and to construct an interchange between US 29, SR 55, andSR 619 (Linton Hall Road). Thesingle-point urban interchange was completed in 2015.^[7]

County	Location	mi[1][2][3][4][5]	km	Destinations	Notes
Frederick	​	0.00	0.00	US 48 west /WV 55 west –Wardensville	West Virginia state line; western terminus; western end of US 48 concurrency
Shenandoah	Lebanon Church			SR 628 (Middle Road) toUS 11 –Winchester
	​	14.26	22.95	I-81 toI-66 east –Winchester,Woodstock US 48 ends	Exit 296 (I-81); eastern end of US 48 concurrency
	Strasburg	15.89	25.57	US 11 north (North Massanutten Street) toI-66 /I-81 –Winchester,Martinsburg	Western end of US 11 concurrency
		16.12	25.94	US 11 south (King Street) –Staunton	Eastern end of US 11 concurrency
Warren	Front Royal (Riverton)	26.40	42.49	US 340 north /US 522 north (North Shenandoah Avenue) toI-66 –Winchester,Berryville	Western end of US 340 / US 522 concurrency
	Front Royal	27.78	44.71	US 522 south (North Commerce Avenue)	Eastern end of US 522 concurrency
				Main Street	formerSR 12 north
		29.00	46.67	US 340 south (South Royal Avenue) –Shenandoah National Park,Skyline Drive	Eastern end of US 340 concurrency
		29.54	47.54	US 522 (Commerce Avenue / Remount Road) toI-66 west
	​	34.24	55.10	SR 79 north (Apple Mountain Road) toI-66	Southern terminus of SR 79
Fauquier	​	44.50	71.62	US 17 north (Winchester Road) –Delaplane,Paris,Winchester,Sky Meadows State Park	Western end of US 17 concurrency
	​	45.14	72.65	I-66 west –Front Royal,Strasburg	Western end of I-66 concurrency; SR 55 west follows exit 23
	​	48.50	78.05	I-66 east /US 17 south /SR 721 (Free State Road) –Washington,Fredericksburg	Eastern end of I-66 / US 17 concurrency; western end of US 17 Bus. concurrency; SR 55 east follows exit 27
	Marshall	49.48	79.63	US 17 Bus. south (Winchester Road) /SR 710 (Rectortown Road) toI-66 –Warrenton	east end of US 17 Bus. concurrency
	The Plains	53.99	86.89	SR 245 south (Fauquier Avenue) toI-66	Northern terminus of SR 245
				SR 626 (Loudoun Avenue) –Middleburg	formerSR 17 north
Prince William	Haymarket	62.38	100.39	US 15 (James Madison Highway) –Leesburg,Warrenton
	Gainesville	64.71	104.14	US 29 (Lee Highway) /SR 619 east (Linton Hall Road)	Eastern terminus
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus

Wikimedia Commons has media related toVirginia State Route 55.

• Virginia Highways Project: VA 55
• Virginia US 48 Photographs from AARoads

• State highways in Virginia
• Transportation in Frederick County, Virginia
• Transportation in Shenandoah County, Virginia
• Transportation in Warren County, Virginia
• Transportation in Fauquier County, Virginia
• Transportation in Prince William County, Virginia
• Virginia Byways

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use American English from April 2025
• All Wikipedia articles written in American English
• Use mdy dates from January 2025
• Infobox road instances in Virginia
• Commons category link from Wikidata
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• Articles using KML from Wikidata