Virginia

[Mapmikey]

Gordonsville is to get a second roundabout, this one at the intersection just north of Food Lion a short distance south of the existing longstanding stop-sign-controlled roundabout. Looks like this one will be a more proper design that won't include stop signs.

The intersection in question is the one where there were cutouts at least as recently as 2018, though unfortunately they've been gone for several years now.

This is the intersection with US 15-33 Truck.  The last 2 cutouts in Gordonsville were at this intersection and were removed in 2020.

The existing traffic circle nearby is the second-oldest one in Virginia, IIRC...

[Hunty2022]

The existing traffic circle nearby is the second-oldest one in Virginia, IIRC...

The Daily Progress tells me it opened in 1940.

I also found an article from 2020 saying VDOT wants/wanted roundabouts at both ends of High Street:

The Gordonsville Town Council embraced a plan from the Virginia Department of Transportation to add two more roundabouts to the town's streets. The circles would be added to the north and south ends of High Street to alleviate the tractor trailer traffic that builds up on Gordonsville's de facto truck bypass.

I doubt they're gonna build the southern one with how US 15/33 is built there, also with a well-known BBQ restaurant at the intersection.

[1995hoo]

The existing traffic circle nearby is the second-oldest one in Virginia, IIRC...

The Daily Progress tells me it opened in 1940.

I believe that is correct and that the oldest one in Virginia is the one in Amherst where US-60 meets US-29 Business.

I also found an article from 2020 saying VDOT wants/wanted roundabouts at both ends of High Street:

The Gordonsville Town Council embraced a plan from the Virginia Department of Transportation to add two more roundabouts to the town's streets. The circles would be added to the north and south ends of High Street to alleviate the tractor trailer traffic that builds up on Gordonsville's de facto truck bypass.

I doubt they're gonna build the southern one with how US 15/33 is built there, also with a well-known BBQ restaurant at the intersection.

That's interesting. No doubt part of the idea is that using roundabouts means that you don't have to stop unless there is someone to whom you have to yield, so I wonder if that's beneficial in cases of heavy truck traffic to allow the trucks to maintain momentum to the extent possible.

It looks like the southern roundabout would be feasible if they shifted 15/33 slightly to the west, which would admittedly involve taking some of the parking for the funeral home and the vape shop (the latter shows on Google Maps as a mattress store). Having the intersection for South Main Street so close to the roundabout would probably be less than ideal, though.

[WillWeaverRVA]

Interestingly, VA 43 is now posted along the Blue Ridge Parkway near Peaks of Otter. This is pretty interesting since the ArcGIS map suggests that this "concurrency" isn't actually part of VA 43.

[Mapmikey]

Interestingly, VA 43 is now posted along the Blue Ridge Parkway near Peaks of Otter. This is pretty interesting since the ArcGIS map suggests that this "concurrency" isn't actually part of VA 43.

There's been a text version of this at the other end where VA 43 leaves the BRP for at least 15 years - https://maps.app.goo.gl/PAsXRdkLmKz3qdPq8

I have no reason to believe VA 43 now exists on the BRP.

[WillWeaverRVA]

Henrico County wants to take control of primary routes within its borders after a recent rash of pedestrian fatalities and frustration with having to coordinate with VDOT on improvements to state-maintained roads in the county. I'm not sure how far this proposal is going to get since this would require a lot of numbers to be decommissioned.

[Rothman]

Henrico County wants to take control of primary routes within its borders after a recent rash of pedestrian fatalities and frustration with having to coordinate with VDOT on improvements to state-maintained roads in the county. I'm not sure how far this proposal is going to get since this would require a lot of numbers to be decommissioned.

Jeez.  Talk about a good chance of being sorry about what you ask for...

[1995hoo]

I certainly agree that VDOT's general refusal to cooperate with relatively straightforward things like painting more marked crosswalks and using more pedestrian crossing lights can be extremely frustrating, but taking over the primary routes seems like an extremely expensive way to deal with the issue, as well as a solution that's likely to cause its own set of problems.

[Mapmikey]

it wouldn't have to be all or nothing (think VA 244 in Arlington Co).

Routes I would *think* they would want (bold would be full route elimination):
US 33, US 250, VA 33, VA 73, VA 157, VA 161, VA 197, VA 356

I am fuzzy regarding whether they could want any of US 1, US 360, or VA 6.

Richmond could agree to dump their parts of VA 197.  No idea how VDOT would handle the US routes.  Here's your opportunity to cut US 33 to I-295 and extend to US 17...

A more creative idea would be to take them all, do the ped improvements, then give them back...

[plain]

What's the state law about this exactly? Why can't Henrico take control of the numbered routes and just... keep the numbers? If independent cities are supposed to be "county equivalent", at least according to VA, why would there be a problem with a county maintaining a primary route but there isn't such an issue in a city?

[Mapmikey]

What's the state law about this exactly? Why can't Henrico take control of the numbered routes and just... keep the numbers? If independent cities are supposed to be "county equivalent", at least according to VA, why would there be a problem with a county maintaining a primary route but there isn't such an issue in a city?

Here are two relevant statutes from https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacodefull/title33.2/chapter3/article2/

§ 33.2-315. Transfer of highways, bridges, and streets from primary to secondary state highway system
The Board may transfer such highways, bridges, and streets as it deems proper from the primary state highway system to the secondary state highway system or, if requested by the local governing body, to the local system of roads operated by a locality receiving payments pursuant to § 33.2-319 or 33.2-366. Upon such transfer, the highways, bridges, and streets so transferred shall become for all purposes parts of the secondary state highway system or the local system of roads operated by a locality receiving payments pursuant to § 33.2-319 or 33.2-366. The total mileage of such highways, bridges, and streets so transferred by the Board shall not exceed 150 miles during any one year.

§ 33.2-317. Establishment, construction, and maintenance exclusively by Commonwealth; funds.
The highways embraced within the primary state highway system shall be established, constructed, and maintained exclusively by the Commonwealth under the direction and supervision of the Commissioner of Highways, with such state funds as may be appropriated and made available for such purposes, together with such appropriations as may be made by any county, district, city, or town in the Commonwealth and such funds as are available or derived from the federal government for highway building and improvement in the Commonwealth.

These mean that if the primary route is transferred it must go to the secondary system and because a primary route is maintained exclusively by VDOT, it appears anyone else can't maintain one.

[74/171FAN]

The 2023 Traffic Data is now on VDOT's website.  I have not deeply looked through it at this point.

[WillWeaverRVA]

The 2023 Traffic Data is now on VDOT's website.  I have not deeply looked through it at this point.

I've peeked at it a bit and noticed that there are exit numbers marked for routes that don't have them, like I-195 and even non-freeways like US 1 and US 17.

There are also some errors - for example, for some reason VA 7 in Alexandria somehow teleports to Colonial Heights to intersect "US 1, US 301 Boulevard".

[Mapmikey]

Even the Blue Ridge Parkway has exit numbers.

I noticed no new route designations. It did imply US 17 didn't go to downtown Winchester anymore but because of other obvious errors put no stock in it.

It continues to show VA 43 not on the BRP. 

[Bitmapped]

What's the state law about this exactly? Why can't Henrico take control of the numbered routes and just... keep the numbers? If independent cities are supposed to be "county equivalent", at least according to VA, why would there be a problem with a county maintaining a primary route but there isn't such an issue in a city?

Here are two relevant statutes from https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacodefull/title33.2/chapter3/article2/

§ 33.2-315. Transfer of highways, bridges, and streets from primary to secondary state highway system
The Board may transfer such highways, bridges, and streets as it deems proper from the primary state highway system to the secondary state highway system or, if requested by the local governing body, to the local system of roads operated by a locality receiving payments pursuant to § 33.2-319 or 33.2-366. Upon such transfer, the highways, bridges, and streets so transferred shall become for all purposes parts of the secondary state highway system or the local system of roads operated by a locality receiving payments pursuant to § 33.2-319 or 33.2-366. The total mileage of such highways, bridges, and streets so transferred by the Board shall not exceed 150 miles during any one year.

§ 33.2-317. Establishment, construction, and maintenance exclusively by Commonwealth; funds.
The highways embraced within the primary state highway system shall be established, constructed, and maintained exclusively by the Commonwealth under the direction and supervision of the Commissioner of Highways, with such state funds as may be appropriated and made available for such purposes, together with such appropriations as may be made by any county, district, city, or town in the Commonwealth and such funds as are available or derived from the federal government for highway building and improvement in the Commonwealth.

These mean that if the primary route is transferred it must go to the secondary system and because a primary route is maintained exclusively by VDOT, it appears anyone else can't maintain one.

If the road is transferred, it sounds like it would go to the "local system of roads" not the secondary system.

VA 55 is clearly signed with "End State Maintenance/Begin State Maintenance" signs at Front Royal town limits. https://maps.app.goo.gl/FMhjzmz5MgRkzK767 Are you saying VA 55 isn't VA 55 in Front Royal?

[WillWeaverRVA]

What's the state law about this exactly? Why can't Henrico take control of the numbered routes and just... keep the numbers? If independent cities are supposed to be "county equivalent", at least according to VA, why would there be a problem with a county maintaining a primary route but there isn't such an issue in a city?

Here are two relevant statutes from https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacodefull/title33.2/chapter3/article2/

§ 33.2-315. Transfer of highways, bridges, and streets from primary to secondary state highway system
The Board may transfer such highways, bridges, and streets as it deems proper from the primary state highway system to the secondary state highway system or, if requested by the local governing body, to the local system of roads operated by a locality receiving payments pursuant to § 33.2-319 or 33.2-366. Upon such transfer, the highways, bridges, and streets so transferred shall become for all purposes parts of the secondary state highway system or the local system of roads operated by a locality receiving payments pursuant to § 33.2-319 or 33.2-366. The total mileage of such highways, bridges, and streets so transferred by the Board shall not exceed 150 miles during any one year.

§ 33.2-317. Establishment, construction, and maintenance exclusively by Commonwealth; funds.
The highways embraced within the primary state highway system shall be established, constructed, and maintained exclusively by the Commonwealth under the direction and supervision of the Commissioner of Highways, with such state funds as may be appropriated and made available for such purposes, together with such appropriations as may be made by any county, district, city, or town in the Commonwealth and such funds as are available or derived from the federal government for highway building and improvement in the Commonwealth.

These mean that if the primary route is transferred it must go to the secondary system and because a primary route is maintained exclusively by VDOT, it appears anyone else can't maintain one.

If the road is transferred, it sounds like it would go to the "local system of roads" not the secondary system.

VA 55 is clearly signed with "End State Maintenance/Begin State Maintenance" signs at Front Royal town limits. https://maps.app.goo.gl/FMhjzmz5MgRkzK767 Are you saying VA 55 isn't VA 55 in Front Royal?

Incorporated towns with populations larger than 3500 (with some exceptions) can receive VDOT funding to maintain their own roads. Primary routes in those towns are still primary - it's similar to independent cities which typically maintain all non-interstate routes within their limits, and the jurisdiction would receive the same amount of funding VDOT would spend to maintain a primary route in a county. Smaller towns usually have VDOT-maintained roads (this is why T-routes exist).

The thing is, Henrico County is not a town or a city - it's a county (well, duh). Henrico has no numbered secondary routes because they are not state maintained (with exceptions for interchanges and bridges over interstates). Since Henrico has no SRs, the only way Henrico could take over maintenance of a primary route would be to downgrade it to the local system, and those routes are not numbered. Henrico used to have internal 6xx route numbers for its local roads but these aren't used anymore. IIRC, Henrico does get some VDOT funding to maintain some of its local roads.

The only real solution I could see to this would be to treat Henrico and Arlington as independent cities as far as road maintenance is concerned (the primary routes would get to keep their numbers), but I'm not sure how they'd be able to pull that off.

[1995hoo]

Is there anything requiring local route numbers to be 600 or above? That is, suppose Henrico decided to number its local routes and to post them using the pentagon-shaped county route shield you see in, among other places, New Jersey and Florida. So take a route like VA-156. Why couldn't Henrico number it as CR-156 within the county limits so as to provide a continuous route number the whole way across? Is there an administrative regulation prohibiting the use of a number at a local level that would duplicate a primary route number in use somewhere else? Because this hypothetical seems like it would be a good example of a situation where an exception to that principle might make sense.

[froggie]

Side note:  VDOT's new website and interface is horrid for easily finding and viewing traffic count data, both current and historic.  I did a test for 2022 data for one county and it came up with an empty dataset.

[WillWeaverRVA]

Is there anything requiring local route numbers to be 600 or above? That is, suppose Henrico decided to number its local routes and to post them using the pentagon-shaped county route shield you see in, among other places, New Jersey and Florida. So take a route like VA-156. Why couldn't Henrico number it as CR-156 within the county limits so as to provide a continuous route number the whole way across? Is there an administrative regulation prohibiting the use of a number at a local level that would duplicate a primary route number in use somewhere else? Because this hypothetical seems like it would be a good example of a situation where an exception to that principle might make sense.

It's VDOT standard operating procedure for secondary routes to be numbered 600 or higher but I don't think that's anything that's been signed into law. I looked at the relevant part of the Code of Virginia (where Mapmikey got those excerpts he posted) and it mentions nothing about route numbers at all. VDOT does have internal numbers for urban and  county routes, though - most of them are 4-digit 7xxx numbers but there are a few that have one- or two-digit numbers, and those are certainly lower than 600 and they're not primary routes, though they're technically not secondary either.

[WillWeaverRVA]

Side note:  VDOT's new website and interface is horrid for easily finding and viewing traffic count data, both current and historic.  I did a test for 2022 data for one county and it came up with an empty dataset.

It's straight up horrid, period. I miss the PDF files they used to upload.

[74/171FAN]

Side note:  VDOT's new website and interface is horrid for easily finding and viewing traffic count data, both current and historic.  I did a test for 2022 data for one county and it came up with an empty dataset.

It's straight up horrid, period. I miss the PDF files they used to upload.

Yeah, you have to download the Excel spreadsheets now.

In the meantime, here is my Danville album where I go crazy over the northern terminus of VA 86 again. 

[VTGoose]

We are working to declutter a bit of accumulated "stuff" and I have a collection of VDOT county maps that are up for grabs, along with a couple of Virginia state maps. There are also a number of other state road maps from the turn of the last century. I will be happy to ship a boxfull to anyone who is interested (this is a take-it-all deal). The list of Virgina county maps is here: https://vtgoose.com/varoads/CountyMaps.pdf

Drop me a note a bbh@vtgoose.com if you are interested.

[sprjus4]

https://www.wric.com/traffic/road-projects-and-closures/temporary-speed-limit-signs-to-be-implemented-on-i-64-in-new-kent-county/amp/

VDOT will be implementing a variable work zone speed limit along I-64 east of Richmond through the ongoing widening project.

The speed limit will be lowered to 60 mph when there is active construction. It will be increased to 70 mph when no workers are present.

Currently, the speed limit has remained at 70 mph despite ongoing construction and shifted / narrowed lanes for the last several months.

[74/171FAN]

The VA 92 replacement bridge over the Staunton River shows up in the revised Virginia 6-year plan...
http://syip.virginiadot.org/Pages/lineitemDetails.aspx?syp_scenario_id=233&line_item_id=1498338
$12M with construction starting in 2022.

I believe that was old US-360 before the relocation was built between Clover and Wylliesburg.

That bridge is old and decrepit.  Doesn't carry much traffic.  Wonder if they are going to keep part of the old truss structure on display.

Yes...was US 360 until the late 1960s.

The traffic count the last year the old bridge was open (2006) was 440.  It was a whopping 490 in 2001.

IMO it borders on a waste of money to rebuild the bridge because it is shorter and faster to reach Clover via US 360 across the river.  However, the Clover Power Station probably has truck traffic that the town of Clover would rather not see as they have to while there is no VA 92 bridge, so that may justify the expenditure....

So I found out today that the replacement VA 92 bridge is now under construction with anticipated completion in 2027 (can be seen on this map).  Information on this project was so hard to find that I ended up asking the contractor that was actually working today while sight clinching what I could in regard to VA 92 there. 

[74/171FAN]

I found out between the wedding and reception of my friend on November 22nd (as both were at separate locations) that Richmond must have created its own bike route system at some point. This is on VA 161 NB between US 33/US 250 and Leigh St. (https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10222043896366965&set=a.10222043900767075)