VDOT: Route 3 fixes coming

Safety improvements to the two lane section of Route 3 could be implemented within 30 days, the Virginia Department of Transportation announced Tuesday.

The news came at a meeting called to share the results of a safety assessment initiated after a March accident that left four people dead.

About two dozen people gathered at VDOT’s Culpeper District Headquarters on Orange Road to hear what the agency plans to do to improve safety on Route 3.

“We know that we need to four-lane this road, but funds are not there at this time,” VDOT residency administrator Donald Gore said. Officials said last month that making Route 3 four lanes from Clay Hill Road east toward Lignum, which is where many accidents have occurred, would cost an estimated $18 million.

In the March incident, police have indicated that alcohol was involved. Authorities say their investigation into the crash is ongoing and further details have not been released. It is not known if or when charges may be filed.

Since 2007, two others have died on the stretch of the highway near Clay Hill Road in the Stevensburg area.

In the interim, VDOT traffic engineer Vijay Kulkarni and regional operations director Dean Gustafson said the following short-term improvements — all intended to alert drivers and help them keep their attention on the road — are proposed for the Stevensburg curve area and the approximately 4.5-mile-long, two-lane stretch overall:

- Larger curve warning and 50 mph speed advisory signs
- Additional chevrons on outside of curve
- Centerline pavement markers
- Stop bars on intersecting roadways
- Adjustments to passing zones at Route 600
- Larger 55 mph speed limit signs
- Rumble strips across the travel lanes in the curve area

Gustafson said the improvements are expected to cost about $300,000 and may take up to a month to complete, depending on the weather and how soon materials are available.

Other long-term plans call for widening the travel lanes to 12 feet, adding shoulders through the 1,100-foot-long curve, installing flexible reflective posts along the curve, wider, brighter pavement markings and reflectors and the addition of a centerline rumble strip. About 7,700 vehicles per day travel the two lane section.

Route 3 is the main highway linking Culpeper and Fredericksburg, All of it in Culpeper County is four lanes except for the Stevensburg-area section and another area near the town boundary.

The Stevensburg-area section has 11-foot-wide travel lanes — one foot narrower than the current VDOT standard — five intersections without signals and 32 private driveways. Some areas do not have shoulders.

However, Gustafson also said the road is safe for 60 mph traffic and that stopping and sight distances meet established guidelines. In essence, the transportation officials said, the road is not inherently unsafe.

The study also showed that about 85 percent of drivers are going 60 mph or faster, although the posted speed limit is 55 mph. Kulkarni added that posting an unreasonably low speed limit would likely backfire, leading drivers into an unsafe pattern of totally disregarding highway signs and rules on Route 3 and elsewhere.

From 2004-09, there were 85 crashes reported in the two-lane section. Six had at least one fatality. In the curve, there were 14 crashes during that period and four of those accidents had at least one fatality.

After the March accident, Stevensburg-area resident Joanne Russell led efforts to organize meetings with law enforcement, transportation officials and state legislators to find a solution to the safety issues.

“I think they’ve done an admirable job,” she said after the meeting, adding that she’s prepared to relay the information to anyone who couldn’t attend.