Report on Route 3 expected this summer

Plans for specific short-term safety improvements may be announced as early as this summer for a stretch of Route 3 that’s been the site of several recent fatal crashes.

Transportation officials shared the news Thursday before about 30 people — mostly Stevens-burg area residents and local and state officials — who gathered at Stevensburg Baptist Church for a second community meeting called in the wake of a deadly accident last month.

On March 22, four young people, aged 19 to 21, died when their sedan was struck head-on by an SUV.

Police say the SUV’s driver, 29-year-old Eugene T. Green of Culpeper, was driving in the wrong lane. Green and a passenger in the sedan, 27-year-old Howard J. Steiniger, survived.

Virginia State Police Sgt. Grover Dean said troopers have interviewed both men and the inves-tigation is continuing. It is not known if or when charges will be filed. Police initially said that alcohol was a factor.

“I will go on the record as saying speed is not the issue,” Dean said of last month’s accident.

But when it comes to long-term overall safety, Dean added that driver error and not necessarily the design of the road is the fundamental issue.

As an example, he cited an accident that occurred in the area since last month’s quadruple fa-tality crash. Dean said the driver at fault apparently failed to notice that two cars ahead had slowed, causing a rear-end crash.

Since 2007, two others have died in crashes on the same stretch of Route 3 between Stevens-burg and Lignum near Clay Hill Road.
Donald Gore, a VDOT engineer, said data collection for a traffic study will be completed May 11. After the data is reviewed, VDOT will decide what kind of short-term fixes would be best.

Gore said those solutions might include a center line rumble strip, wider shoulders, enhanced signage, more reflectors along the shoulders or a flashing warning light.

He also agreed with Dean’s position that the design of the road is only partly to blame for the problems. Gore said data collected so far shows that 85 percent of drivers in the area are going 60 mph or faster. The posted speed limit is 55.

State senators Edd Houck and Ed Scott, along with Commonwealth Transportation Board member John “Butch” Davies, said money is the holdup in getting the additional lanes con-structed.

All three said that improvements to Route 3 are unfortunately just one more project on what’s become a very long statewide to-do list.

“We are competing with projects all across the state,” Davies said. “The funds are not there.”

But if enough money does materialize, Davies said the plan is to address the stretch of road from Clay Hill Road east towards Lignum, which is where most of the accidents have occurred. That project is estimated to cost about $18 million.