SR 144 begins at a four-way intersection with SR 36 at the northeastern corner of Fort Lee. The south leg of the intersection is Sisisky Boulevard, which serves as one of the entrances to the military base. SR 144 heads west as Temple Avenue, a four-lane divided highway that crosses a rail line and passes through an industrial area in far northern Prince George County before crossing the Appomattox River, which is split in two by Halls Island. While crossing the river, the state highway passes through a sliver of Chesterfield County before entering the independent city of Colonial Heights. SR 144 passes through a commercial area that includes the Southpark Mall and the world's largest Arby's restaurant. West of the mall, the state highway has a trumpet interchange with Interstate 95 that is supplemented by a ramp from northbound SR 144 to northbound I-95. West of the freeway, SR 144 reaches the western end of Temple Avenue and turns north to run concurrently with US 1 and US 301 along the city's main north-south thoroughfare, Boulevard. SR 144, US 1, and US 301 follow Boulevard north through Colonial Heights, where the five-lane highway with center turn lane passes under CSX's North End Subdivision. The highways enter Chesterfield County by crossing Swift Creek into Chesterfield County and become Jefferson Davis Highway. SR 144 splits northwest from the U.S. Highways to follow two-lane Harrowgate Road through a suburban area to Chester. There, the state highway has a brief concurrency with four-lane SR 10 to cross the North End Subdivision rail line. SR 144 continues north on two-lane Chester Road, which the highway follows to its northern terminus at SR 145 at Centralia. SR 145 heads west as Centralia Road toward Chesterfield Court House and north as a continuation of Chester Road through an interchange with the SR 288 freeway.
History
What would become SR 144 was first commissioned in 1930 as SR 425. It was significantly shorter than today's route, only running from State Route 407 in Chester to State Route 410 in Centralia. The route was given its current designation during the 1933 Virginia state highway renumbering. In 1943, it was extended west along SR 407 for a short length, then south to US 1 and US 301 using the routing of what was at the time State Route 621, a secondary road; the Commonwealth Transportation Board's justification for replacing it with SR 144 was that it was "a heavily traveled feeder road serving a rapidly developing portion of ". In 1987, SR 144 was again extended a total of ; first south along US 1 and US 301 from its previous terminus and then east along Temple Avenue to its current terminus at SR 36.
