New loop proposed for U.S. 460 intersection

Motorists will soon be introduced to a new kind of intersection in Lynchburg.

It’s called a “jug handle.” Safety is its purpose, as in fewer crashes.

But if the prospect of a traffic circle on Fifth Street was puzzling at first, the “jug handle” proposed for U.S. 460 at Concord Turnpike is likely to seem downright confusing.

People can give their opinions of the plan at a public hearing from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday at the Virginia Department of Transportation building at 4303 Campbell Ave.

The most unfamiliar thing about a jug handle is this: In order to make a left turn, the motorist must first turn right onto a ramp before reaching the intersection.

The traffic engineers who are designing the jug handle didn’t know of another one like it in Virginia, said Rob Carey, VDOT manager for the Lynchburg District.

Motorists will have to use the jug-handle ramp partly because VDOT plans to close four median crossovers on U.S. 460 along the stretch between Concord Turnpike and Campbell Avenue/U.S. 501.

VDOT also plans to close the intersection of Tyreeanna Road at 460, forcing residents along Tyreeanna to use Concord Turnpike to reach their homes.

Emmitt Paulette, who lives on Tyreeanna Road, said he doesn’t like the plan.

“It’s going to add time to the commute” to work, Paulette said.

“It will also add to the response time for emergency vehicles” to reach homes along Tyreeanna, Paulette said.

Carey acknowledged that emergency responses could be delayed by the median closures, but he also said the traffic signal at Concord Turnpike could be controlled by ambulances and fire trucks so they won’t be slowed by a red light.

Carey also said the change will be inconvenient for nearby residents.

“We’re not blind to those things,” Carey said.

Jug-handle intersections are common in some places, including New Jersey and other northeastern states.

They’re cheaper than using bridges to separate traffic, and they’re safer than allowing U-turns and left turns, Carey said.

Too many crashes have been occurring on U.S. 460 in the four years since the U.S. 29 bypass of Madison Heights opened, Carey said.

The bypass brought 10,000 more cars per day, a 46 percent increase in traffic on the open-access road.

Crash statistics jumped along the 1.7-mile stretch.

Five wrecks had occurred in the 18 months before the bypass opened.

In the 18 months after it opened, 37 crashes occurred, most of them from rear-enders or running off the road.

One person was killed; 21 were injured. Property damage rocketed from $16,700 to $280,000, according to VDOT statistics.

Closing the median crossovers will force all the local traffic from places along the south side of 460 to use the jug handle.

That increase in traffic would make a left turn onto Concord Turnpike even more dangerous, Carey said. For that reason, the existing left-turn lane will be removed, Carey said.

Bob Pierce, VDOT’s regional operations engineer, said people who use that stretch of U.S. 460 on a regular basis would get used to the jug handle quickly.

Pierce also said that ever-increasing traffic volumes, coupled with the state’s lack of money to build new roads, mean that more jug handles are likely to appear around Virginia.

VDOT expects construction of the jug handle and other changes to start in December 2010 and be complete within a year.

The cost is estimated at $1.7 million.

VDOT also hopes to buy up property along 460 in the next six years.

That property acquisition is the next step in VDOT’s plan to fully change the 1.7-mile stretch into a limited-access road just like the sections of highway on either end of the stretch, Carey said.