Find us on Facebook
Follow us on TwitterPossible upgrade to U.S. 460 falls victim to cuts
Published: December 18, 2008
A possible upgrade to U.S. 460 on Lynchburg’s southeastern side fell victim to state funding cuts on Thursday.
The 1.5-mile section between U.S. 501 (Campbell Avenue) and the U.S. 29 Madison Heights bypass was the only major Lynchburg-area road project affected by a rare, mid-year change by the Virginia Department of Transportation.
The upgrade has been talked about for years but never materialized because funds always have been scarce. The current shortfall in expected transportation money apparently knocked it off the table again.
Almost $19 million had been budgeted for engineering designs and acquiring right of way. A public meeting to receive comments about the plans was held about a month ago.
Traffic there has increased significantly since the completion of the Madison Heights bypass in 2005, according to both state and local officials.
Gerry Harter, Lynchburg’s traffic engineer, said VDOT figures show the accident rate along the corridor has increased six-fold, jumping from five crashes in the 18 months before the bypass opened to 35 in the 18 months afterward.
Injuries reported during that time increased from two to 22, according to Harter.
Harter said he would have to consult with his counterparts at VDOT to determine how serious the cut was.
“If we’re allowed to keep the cash already allocated, it’s not the end of the world,” he said. “If they’re talking about taking everything and putting the project at $0, I would be very concerned.”
Allowing the project to retain the money already appropriated would at least enable crews to address the most critical problem points, Harter said.
Reader Reactions
Notices appeared in the local paper; WSET did an interview from the meeting and letters were sent to people who came to an earlier meeting or expressed an interest at another time.
Two points from a resident who lives directly off this busy stretch:
- never knew anything about this public mtg. You’d think they’d post signs or fliers or do a mailer to area residents
- I’m not one to ask for police patrol bec frankly I don’t trust many of them, but if they’d just sit in their cars once a week on this stretch, it’d slow down some people. The speed limit is never enforced - in fact many are going 15 over, including semi’s. Speed is prob the main factor in each of those 35 wrecks!
Advertisement