Commission discusses secondary roads

By: Steven Butler | Culpeper Star Exponent
Published: February 09, 2012

The Culpeper County Planning Commission discussed a plan to prioritize projects on the Six Year Secondary Road Plan during a work session Wednesday night.

County planner John Egertson explained that the prior long-standing process for recommending improvements on secondary roads was to continuously add new items to the bottom of a list. Egertson said that in recent years, as road improvement funds have begun to shrink, VDOT officials requested that the county stop adding roads to the list.

Secondary projects generally refer to paving gravel roads throughout the county and do not include primary projects such as the Route 3 widening project in Stevensburg or the Route 666/U.S. 29 interchange at Eastern View High School.

“We need to get this thing back to a six-year plan,” said Egertson. At VDOT’s recommendation and the board of supervisors’ direction, he explained that the county’s new plan would prioritize projects based on what could feasibly be realized in a six-year period, as opposed to a comprehensive list of every secondary road need across the county. Egertson said the county gets about $119,000 a year for secondary improvements and a prioritized list could lead to more of these projects being completed.

“My belief is the board’s priority is to pave gravel roads, not to widen paved roads,” said Egertson. He noted that before the board would agree on the shorter, prioritized list, there would be a public hearing to take in public recommendations for the list. “We need to figure out the most important projects in this county.”

Commission member F. Dewayne Payne Jr. said, “ I agree this is a more realistic approach.”

Another commission member, C. Jack Frazier, said prioritizing the roads should not be based solely on traffic studies.

“High traffic counts on roads don’t necessarily mean safety,” said Frazier. “Safety is the number one priority.” Egertson and other members agreed that safety should be a factor in the final decision.

Egertson did not have a set date for a public hearing on the plan but hinted next month’s planning commission meeting may be the selected date.