Transportation board gets earful from residents

By Rhonda Simmons

Published: January 7, 2009

Stevensburg resident Joanne Russell is fed up with witnessing fatal wrecks and devastating crashes just yards away from her doorstep — merely a stone’s throw from Route 3.

So she’s urged the Board of Supervisors, the Virginia Department of Transportation and the State Police to conduct safety studies along that narrow two-lane stretch of road between Stevensburg and Lignum.

She wasn’t alone.

Nearly 60 people filled the VDOT Culpeper District auditorium Tuesday evening for the second of five statewide public hearings hosted by the Commonwealth Transportation Board.

Fifteen of them walked up to the lectern to voice opinions regarding proposed cuts to primary road projects.

A panel of seven board members listened attentively as residents as far away as Harrisonburg, Fauquier, Staunton and Charlottesville pleaded with them not to cut funding for essential road projects listed in the Six-Year Improvement Program for fiscal years 2009-14.

A $2.6 billion reduction from state and federal sources has forced the board to cut funding for projects over the next six years. The state’s latest plan calls for $1.3 billion in cuts, with the possibility of $400 million more.

In Culpeper County, a decision to reduce funding by $41 million was made last month.

Those cuts postponed the highly anticipated $24 million interchange planned for the intersection of Route 666 and U.S. 29 near Eastern View High School and the final phase of the $16.6 million four-lane widening project along Route 3 east of Stevensburg toward Lignum.

Russell, who lives on Sandy Springs Road, has submitted a petition of more than 70 signatures from area motorists who constantly travel that stretch to the supervisors asking for additional safety measures.

She mentioned the safety signs VDOT posted along a curvy section of Route 3 near Route 739 where several recent crashes have occurred.

“I find myself comparing the death rate along that Route 3 stretch and I wonder why this area is not taken more seriously,” Russell questioned.

Stevensburg resident Tim Stegmaier, who lives on York Road, echoed Russell’s concerns.

“Since I spoke to you all last year, we’ve had two more of our neighbors killed on Route 3 because the project hasn’t been completed,” Stegmaier said. “I calculated the odds of me or people that I personally know getting killed until that road is widened is one in 10,000.

“I can show you the skid marks,” Stegmaier added.

The recent wrecks
In August, Kelsey Orndorff, a Fredericksburg Christian School senior from Culpeper, collided with local physician J. Bryon Cook on that very road near Route 739 and Route 3.

The wreck occurred around 5:50 p.m. on Aug. 29 when Kelsey’s eastbound 2004 Dodge Intrepid ran off the right side of the road, overcorrected and came back across the double line, striking Cook’s westbound 2002 Acura MDX sport-utility vehicle, according to Virginia State Police Mike Woodard.

Cook stayed in the intensive care unit at the University of Virginia Medical Center for months recovering from a number of serious injuries.

In November 2007, Michael William Kilby, now 62, of Lignum collided head-on with and killed Amity Stein Grace, a 31-year-old teacher at Madison Primary School. Grace was driving a 2000 Chevy Blazer and Kilby was in a 1999 Dodge Dakota pickup.

The two wrecks happened just a few yards away from each other on Route 3 near Route 739.

Kerrie Humphreys, public affairs administrative assistant for VDOT’s Culpeper office, said the agency has studied Route 3 from Route 600 to 750 in recent years.

And so far, there have been 66 crashes, four fatalities, 30 injuries and 30 incidents with property damage between January 2004 and November 2007.

What about the interchange?
Three local Culpeper leaders stood before the panel to share their concerns over the CTB’s possibly decision of eliminating funding for the highly anticipated Route 666 and Route 29 interchange.

Jim Charapich, president and CEO of the Culpeper Chamber of Commerce, said this region boasts more than 500 businesses and has about 8,000 employees.

“Transportation is a very critical part of our business community as well as our local and regional economies,” he said.

John Egertson, Culpeper County planning director, also urged the board to reconsider its plans to cuts much needed local transportation funding.

“This interchange is a vitally important to the county, to the region and to the entire state,” Egertson said of the U.S. 29 and Route 666 interchange. “The county has opened a multi-million dollar sports complex in the northeast quandrant of the interchange as well as a new 1,500-student capacity high school, which opened in the fall of 2008.”

The supervisors on Tuesday unanimously agreed to support sending a resolution to Richmond asking for help to get the project off the ground.

The recommendation from the county’s Rules Committee will also be sent to the leadership of VDOT’s Culpeper District, the Commonwealth Transportation Board and to the area’s congressional delegation in Washington, D.C.

Local transportation officials say the project hasn’t gotten far enough underway to predict exactly what the design would look like, but plans are to construct a complete grade-separated interchange to allow unimpeded traffic flow to and from Eastern View High School. Estimated costs for the project have ranged from $20-35 million dollars.

In the interim, officials stressed that recent improvements made to the busy intersection — including enhanced traffic signals, longer turn lanes to accommodate buses and rumble strips to alert cars on U.S. 29 as they approach the intersection — are meant to be stopgap measures only.

Before the public forum, Pierce Homer, secretary of transportation chairman, outlined the difficult task the board faces over the coming months.

Homer blamed lower gas taxes and sales taxes on new and used cars as the reason for the slumping economy, causing less revenue for transportation projects.

“Gasoline taxes are our largest single source of revenue in transportation,” Homer said. “They declined dramatically last summer when gas prices increased. They have not rebounded since gas prices have come down.”

He added that car sales are plummeting as well.

“The automobile industry in the U.S. is struggling,” he said, adding that sales for new and used vehicles are half of what they were a year ago. “It’s a very sobering statistic.”

The CTB allocates funding for specific highway projects, public transportation, seaports and airports. A list of specific projects and changes from the existing program will be available at each public hearing.

Staff writer Nate Delesline III contributed to this report.