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U.S. Route 17 south - Fredericksburg to Tappahannock
Proceeding eastward, but nominally south, from U.S. Route 1 south of Fredericksburg, Virginia, U.S. Route 17 comes across a traffic signal at Latitude Street, which leads into the Cosner's Corner retail power center, and Mills Drive. Southbound US 17 has a separate one-way approach to US 1 in this vicinity. Photo taken 10-06-2016.
Shortly afterward, US 17 crosses over Interstate 95, with which it runs concurrent for seven miles to the north of here, along the west side of Fredericksburg and into Stafford County. New Post, technically the southeast corner of Fredericksburg, is six miles due east of here, while Tappahannock, the seat of Essex County on Virginia's Middle Peninsula, is a 47-mile drive away, and the Hampton Roads city of Newport News a good 122-mile drive from here. Photo taken 10-06-2016.
The speed limit at this point is 45 miles per hour. Photo taken 10-06-2016.
Hospital Boulevard, leading south to the Spotsylvania Regional Medical Center situated alongside I-95, and Germanna Point Drive, leading north to the Germanna Community College, intersect US 17 at a traffic signal ahead. Hospital Boulevard also leads to Spotsylvania County Parkway, which leads back west to US 1 and then through residential areas to Virginia Route 208 a few miles to the west. Photo taken 10-06-2016.
US 17 is now paralleling Overview Drive, its old alignment through the area. Photo taken 10-06-2016.
The route's next traffic signal is at Old Dominion Parkway and Cosner Drive, the former leading north to the Lee's Hill Golf Club on Massaponax Creek. Photo taken 10-06-2016.
Past the signal, the speed limit increases to 55 miles per hour. Photo taken 10-06-2016.
US 17 next approaches state secondary route 608 (Massaponax Church Road/Eagle Drive) leading to the parallel secondary route 635 (Lee Hill School Drive). Photo taken 10-06-2016.
The SR 608 intersection sits just ahead. Photo taken 10-06-2016.
US 17 then intersects Benchmark Road, leading to the Spotsylvania station of Virginia Railway Express' Fredericksburg line. Photo taken 10-06-2016.
Past that signal sits a traffic signal at SR 609 (Jim Morris Road/Thornton Rolling Road). Photo taken 10-06-2016.
US 17 is now approaching the New Post intersection, where the intersecting routes are Virginia Route 2 and U.S. Route 17 Business. This is the southern terminus of US 17 Bus., while VA 2 heads south to Caroline County seat Bowling Green where it joins U.S. Route 301. Photo taken 10-06-2016.
US 17 Bus. is mainline US 17's pre-freeway routing through Fredericksburg. Interests to Fort A.P. Hill in Caroline County are directed to take VA 2 south, although US 17 itself runs along the north side of its property. Photo taken 10-06-2016.
US 17 reaches the VA 2 intersection. This marks the end of access control on this portion of US 17. Photo taken 10-06-2016.
Port Royal, where US 17 intersects US 301, is 14 miles ahead. Yorktown, in Virginia's Historic Triangle region, is 102 miles away, and Portsmouth 144 miles. Photo taken 10-06-2016.
The highway proceeds through a swath of open land with no trees. Photo taken 10-06-2016.
Then, the landscape quickly changes as the road enters a heavily-forested area and prepares to go sharply downhill. Photo taken 10-06-2016.
As it goes downhill, with guardrails on either side, US 17 crosses from Spotsylvania into Caroline County. Photo taken 10-06-2016.