As owner of The Amherst Corner at the intersection of U.S. 29 and Virginia 151 in Amherst County, Freeman Miller said he has watched a man crawl out of his flipped-over minivan with serious injuries.
In another incident, a neighbor was nearly killed while driving at the intersection and thought she may never walk again, he said.
The location is excellent for doing business with its heavy traffic volume, he added.
“It’s just that everyone is nervous about the intersection,” said Miller.
Earlier this year, Miller relocated the restaurant and ice cream parlor across the highway to the southbound side of U.S. 29. Customers are relieved with the new location, he said, but safety remains a primary concern.
“It’s scary,” said Lynn Kable of the busy intersection close to her home on Virginia 151, adding she has felt chased by trucks speeding through.
From 2007 through last year, 49 crashes and 28 injuries were reported at the intersection, plus there was a fatality in fall 2016, according to the Virginia Department of Transportation.
VDOT is planning improvements at the heavily traveled spot it says is prone to right-of-way confusion, sight distance limitations and a high number of conflict points, or spots where travel paths intersect.
While many believe a traffic light is warranted, VDOT is aiming to secure funding for a Restricted Crossing U-Turn (RCUT) measure the department says would reduce the number of points where vehicles cross paths and eliminate the potential for head-on crashes.
According to VDOT’s website, an RCUT is an intersection design where all side street movements begin with a right turn, and side street left turns and through vehicles on side streets turn right and make a U-turn at a dedicated median opening. The intersection and median U-turn can be designed to be controlled by stop signs or yield signs, the website states.
VDOT held a public meeting on the intersection safety plans last Wednesday at the Amherst County administration facility. Don Austin, residency administrator for Amherst, said the county plans to submit an application to compete for Smart Scale funding, a process that chooses projects across the state based on certain criteria.
An RCUT could cost $500,000 to $1.5 million, according to VDOT.
Gerry Harter, a traffic engineer for VDOT, said most of the intersection’s crashes involve motorists taking left turns onto Virginia 151 getting hit by southbound travelers.
Jeff Kuttesch, a consultant on the project, said the intersection currently has 42 points where paths intersect and the RCUT would cut them down to two dozen
“You’ve got six different possible movements a driver could be making, and they’re all fighting for that same small space,” said Jeff Kuttesch, a consultant on the road improvement project. “The goal is make it safer to make those movements.”
A concern with a traffic light at the intersection is the increased possibility of rear-end collisions. Harter said VDOT strives for consistency in where it puts stoplights and the goal is to keep U.S. 29 as “open as possible” without constant stopping.
“We have to be careful where we put signals and make sure that is the biggest bang for the buck…” Harter told fewer than a dozen gatherers at last Wednesday’s public meeting.
One feature of the RCUT plan is placing a U-turn adjacent to the entrance of Lazy Days Winery, which is located just south of the intersection, for southbound travelers only, according to VDOT. Travelers heading north on U.S. 29 would not use that crossover to turn into the winery.
Crashes are reduced by 35 percent on average with RCUTin place, Kuttesch said.
“We’ve cut down the opportunity to have those vehicles to have those collisions substantially,” he said.
The two major corridors converging bring about 19,400 vehicles per day, according to VDOT. In 2016, Cynthia Jean Martin, a teacher’s aide at Madison Heights Elementary School, died from injuries sustained in a wreck at the intersection, and her eldest daughter has said the family feels a traffic light is needed
there.
Brittani Gowen, who lives on nearby Fletchers Level Road, said she maneuvers the intersection daily. Her concern is when she crosses the southbound lane and tries not to get hit by motorists driving south on U.S. 29 and coming off of Virginia 151. Getting rear-ended is another concern, she added.
Gowen said her neighbors and friends all favor a traffic signal and she understands those concerns but she personally favors VDOT’s RCUT plan as the best solution.
Kable said she favors a stoplight at the intersection but isn’t opposed to the RCUT scenario, adding it looks like the department has put thought into its design.
“I’m glad they’re taking it seriously,” she said of the intersection’s challenges.