With an updated procedure in place for Virginia Department of Transportation project approval, Campbell County is doing all it can to increase the likelihood four priority projects on county highways receive funding.
County staff currently is in the process of adding these projects to the county’s comprehensive plan, which is necessary to receive the best possible points score in VDOT’s Smart Scale funding methodology, Deputy County Administrator Cliff Tweedy said.
“Without projects being individually identified in this plan it is unlikely a project would score high enough to receive funding,” he wrote in a January memo to County Administrator Frank Rogers.
The projects identified by the county include U.S. 29 safety improvements totaling $11.1 million, adding about two miles of passing lanes on U.S. 501 near the Georgia Pacific plant at a cost of about $12.5 million, phase two of Lynbrook Road reconstruction, and improvements to the intersection of U.S. 29 and Gladys Road. Cost estimates for the latter two projects still are being refined but will be fairly expensive, according to Tweedy.
Improvements to U.S. 29 were identified by VDOT after a corridor assessment as part of a case study in 2016. According to study materials, the 6.6-mile corridor had an average daily traffic volume of 20,376 vehicles in 2015 and 365 crashes from 2011 to 2015.
U.S. 501 had an average daily traffic volume of 6,820 vehicles in 2013, with trucks accounting for more than 11 percent of those vehicles. This is a key driver of the need for a passing lane in this area, according to a 2013 public brochure for the passing lane project.
Tweedy said the section of Lynbrook Road stretching from Lawyers Road to U.S. 29 is the last remaining section of the rural major connector between Campbell and the Bedford County line requiring improvement. The county has worked with VDOT for about 30 years to improve Lynbrook Road in five different sections.
“The purpose of this project is to improve the horizontal and vertical alignment to current design standards and to provide a wider roadway, both within the existing corridor and on a new location,” he wrote in the memo.
County staff developed a “blended solution” of 11 elements to address safety issues along the U.S. 29 corridor. Key improvements include turn lane extensions, 13 new turn lanes and intersection signal improvements, according to Tweedy. The most costly element of the plan is the installation of four restricted crossing U-turn intersection median access points at a total cost of $5 million.
Tweedy said his team previously has applied for funding to improve and add passing lanes on about two miles of U.S. 501 South located south of Gladys, but the request was not granted.
“We recommend that we continue to try and get these funds if we can and resubmit those projects,” he told the board of supervisors in a meeting last month.
The last priority project is mid- to long-range solutions for geometric improvements to the U.S. 29 and Gladys Road intersection, which sees crashes near Perky’s restaurant just north of Altavista, Tweedy said.
Campbell County identified these projects as the most important for VDOT funding because they address safety concerns, improve traffic flow and facilitate economic development, he explained.
For example, he said [U.S.] “29 is our major thoroughfare. It’s our almost interstate, so we want to be sure we keep that in really good shape for business and transporting goods.”
If funded,all four projects will span multiple years, ranging from 18 months to four years for completion. Tweedy said one benefit to the new Smart Scale funding process is the county will receive complete funding at one time if the project is approved. Previously, approved projects were funded in stages.
However, the county first must amend its comprehensive plan in order to be competitive in the funding process. Campbell County last updated its comprehensive plan in 2014 and will conduct a complete update of the plan in 2019.
Amending the plan is a months-long process that kicked off last month when county staff briefed the board of supervisors and planning commission on the proposed projects and schedule. Supervisors unanimously approved the priority list, but the planning commission had several comments about other roadway issues on the horizon.
“This also seems to me to maybe put a few others in the queue … is it possible to have this document amended to add any of those other pieces in play?” Planning Commission Chairman William Kirk asked Community Development Director Paul Harvey, explaining it may benefit the county to go ahead and add future projects to the comprehensive plan now so they won’t have to conduct additional public hearings for them at a later date. He specifically cited concerns about traffic on Waterlick Road as an example.
Harvey said his staff is reviewing all of the county’s known projects with plans and studies. He told commissioners these projects must be scoped out with approximate costs to be included in the comprehensive plan. After this discussion, the planning commission agreed with the current list of projects.
County staff submitted the list to VDOT earlier this month, which now has 90 days to provide comments on the proposed projects. Once they hear back from the state, the planning commission and board of supervisors will hold public hearings on the amended comprehensive plan before finalizing the funding list for submission to VDOT by Aug. 1.
