Photo overload, December 15, 2012, Part Four.

We stayed on US 17 south, saving VA 164 for later and passing by these crooked directional banners.

If you missed getting on VA 164 east from US 17 south, you get another chance beneath the flyover.

We pass by VA 135, yet another highway we'll come across later.

Only skilled nurses need apply.

We didn't enter Portsmouth city limits here.

One of the secret talents of Hampton Roads is producing crappy street blades.

And jowly US Route shields.

No festive feast is festive or feasty enough without cookies.

This time, we take VA 135, College Drive.

VA 135 immediately interchanges with VA 164. There exists what is quite possibly certainly the worst road sign. . .in the world.

We quickly flee, once again leaving VA 164 for later.

Like many Hampton Roads-area arterials, VA 135/College Drive is mostly four lanes divided.

Old and new, bad and good.

And the ugly.

College Drive is the last exit on I-664 before the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge Tunnel, so guide signs for I-664 north come with an extra warning.

Tunnel trarffic traffic only on I-664 northbound. We continue straight.

VA 135/College Drive loses its extra lanes at the I-664 interchange.

And then it. . .just sort of peters out into the entrance road for a CDL training facility. Odd. We turn around.

Back the other way.

Four lanes again. For some reason, Google Maps said part of this Wal-Mart to the right (slightly out of frame) was inside the cloverleaf interchange, as in between one of the loop ramps and straight ramps. Certainly an awkward layout if that were the case.

This is the only authorized sign style in the Perkins Union.

More crappy street blades. 

VA 135/College Drive has a separate speed limit for general traffic and trucks. And unisigns.

What badge is this? It's on a current-generation Hyundai Sonata. At first, I thought it was the Equus badge, but some searching didn't find a match.

The fact that the southbound signage for the VA 164 interchange is normal (and actually pretty good-looking) makes the northbound. . .whatever that's supposed to be even worse. After this, we returned to US 17 southbound, but I failed at getting decent pictures of the occasion.

I think this is where you get on I-664 south to Chesapeake.

VA 164 does not end here.

We take VA 164 this time.

VA 164 is the Western Freeway. It connects I-664 and US 17 in Suffolk with US 58 and the Midtown Tunnel in Portsmouth.

VA 164 east only allows access to I-664 north. To get on I-664 south, you should have stayed on US 17.

The Western Freeway is mostly four lanes. A multi-track railroad line runs between the two carriageways from here until just before the APM Terminals Boulevard interchange.

Add Cedar Lane to that (actually the next interchange after Towne Point Road) and you have all of the interchanges on VA 164 until it ends at US 58. 

There are no exit numbers on VA 164. 

The signage on VA 164 is varied, as are the mounting solutions. Clearview, Highway Gothic, cantilever mounts, bridge mounts, sign bridges, Georgia-style T-bars, hung from the sound wall, this road has them all.

Stationary train.

Only the Coast Guard is allowed to use Cedar Lane.

Approaching APM Terminals Boulevard. The railway departs to service the freight terminal.

Another reassurance shield. Most of the ones on VA 164 itself are fairly normal and within standards.

APM Terminals Boulevard solely exists to service. . .you guessed it, APM Terminals. Oddly, there is a two-direction traffic signal at the end of the ramp, only controlling the VA 164 east offramp and the road to the terminal, which dead-ends right there at the signal. Odd considering the westbound side of the interchange has a stop sign.

Blank VMS shortly after the APM Terminals Boulevard interchange.

West Norfolk Road. Oddly, this is the only time it's mentioned on eastbound VA 164 except for the next-three-exits sign on which it's actually the fourth exit.

Another worst-of-road-signs candidate.

These tunnel-inspection warning signs are a pretty common sight in this area, and we'll see pretty much all of them before all is said and done.

Within one mile of the Y interchange at US 58, the eastern terminus of VA 164. The bridge's speed limit is posted at 45 mph while the rest of the freeway is 55. However, the traffic still generally travels at 60-65 mph like on most other Hampton Roads freeways.

More tunnel advisory signage.

It seems like a lot more was meant to go on this sign bridge.

And this one.

Junction US 58, end VA 164. Continue eastbound for the Midtown Tunnel into Norfolk, head westbound for downtown Portsmouth (via VA 141). We will, of course, visit the Midtown Tunnel later. For now, we head onto US 58 west and leave VA 164 behind. Also, after setting a record for most photos in one blog post, I'll leave this post behind and return with Part Five soon enough.