Site work and paving for a road / highway in Lynchburg, Virginia. Conceptual plans call for site work for a road / highway; and for paving for a road / highway.

UPDATE: Smart20 Rte 221/501 - Intersection Improvement (Split Pair) Scope of Work Reconstruction w/ Added Capacity Description FROM: BREEZEWOOD DRIVE TO: RTE 501 (DESMOND T. DOSS MEM. EXP.) Project is in Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT capital budget fy 2026-2031 CIP _______________________________________________________________________ https://newsadvance.com/news/article_687dd99b-939e-4ff1-ac5e-802de18a26d6.html#tracking-source=home-top-story Firm for US 501, US 221 intersection design selected ahead of public meeting The city of Lynchburg has retained civil engineering firm McCormick Taylor Inc. to complete a new design of the intersection of U.S. 221 and U.S. 501, one of the busiest intersections in the city. The city will hold a information meeting from 4 to 6 p.m. on July 29, where representatives from McCormick Taylor and the city will be available to provide updates about the long-awaited project and answer questions, the city said in a news release Monday. The meeting, which will be open to the public, will be held at Fire Station 7 at 2624 Lakeside Drive. Lynchburg is partnering with the Virginia Department of Transportation on the redesign of the intersection. The U.S. 501/U.S. 221 intersection project has been on the drawing board for years as a way to reduce traffic congestion, enhance public safety and accommodate future traffic growth due to new housing and commercial development in the area.. McCormick Taylor, headquartered in Philadelphia, was retained for the project because it has “a proven record of successfully managing complex infrastructure projects, including those addressing traffic bottlenecks and improving safety,” the city said. This won’t be McCormick Taylor’s first project in Lynchburg. The engineering firm also is working on the Breezewood Drive Improvements project, south of the U.S. 501/U.S. 221 intersection. New public engagement resources, including a dedicated project website, will be available later this summer to keep the public apprised of developments with the intersection project, according to the city. Project updates also will continue to be posted on the existing project website at www.lynchburgva.gov/500/US-501-US-221-Intersection-Improvement. The public can use a toll-free project hotline at 1.USS.501.PAIR (1-877-501-7247) to the latest project information and have their questions answered. Callers will be asked to leave their name, email address, U.S. Postal Service mailing address or phone number. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- https://newsadvance.com/news/article_43f684e3-10ee-49d6-8537-7e33c209d71e.html#tracking-source=home-top-story Bedford residents get look at proposed intersection improvements on U.S. 221 The Central Virginia Transportation Planning Organization held a public meeting Tuesday where road engineers unveiled design concepts showing ways to improve driver safety and traffic flow on U.S. 221 in Forest. The meeting at the Forest Library on Tuesday was the second one held to give residents an opportunity to provide input on possible improvements to the stretch of U.S. 221, also called Forest Road, between Perrowville and Graves Mill roads. The first meeting, at Forest Middle School last September, introduced the Route 221 Corridor Study to the public and identified intersections and areas of concern along this highly traveled road in Bedford County. At Tuesday’s meeting, concepts such as thru-cuts, a traffic design for intersections that could reduce crashes, and a flyover were presented to the public as possible solutions. CVTPO has contracted with EPR P.C., a Charlottesville-based engineering firm, to oversee the design efforts as part of the traffic study that the planning organization is conducting in conjunction with Bedford County and the Virginia Department of Transportation. Bill Wuensch, a principal and transportation engineer with EPR P.C., said his firm has been tasked with conducting a traffic study of this stretch of U.S. 221. Wuensch said his firm came up with concepts on display at Tuesday’s meeting to address the concerns raised at the first public meeting in September. EPR P.C., together with CVTPO, is conducting a new public survey to receive input on the concepts presented at Tuesday’s public meeting. The public survey can be found at https://publicinput.com/route221_improvements. “After this meeting, we will consider the public input, and we then move forward to wrap up the study,” Wuensch said. “We turn the study over to Bedford County and VDOT. And it’s up to them to decide if they want to pursue any of these improvements.” If local officials decide to move forward, they can apply for grants from the state, including from VDOT’s Smart Scale program, that could provide significant help with covering the cost of the improvements. On its website, VDOT has an innovative intersection section that includes ways to make intersections safer, including the thru-cut proposed along U.S. 221. Listen now and subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS Feed | SoundStack | All Of Our Podcasts U.S. 221 serves as an east-west major roadway connecting residential areas to commercial areas and employment centers. As part of the study, EPR P.C. has identified safety concerns, including the number of serious wrecks at certain intersections. The study also is looking at bicycle and pedestrian needs along the corridor. Larry Jacobs, a resident of Forest, attended the public meeting, mainly to see how the planners are proposing to address left-hand turns on U.S. 221. “These efforts should reduce some of those accidents from these turns,” Jacobs said, who added he needs to go online to spend more time reviewing the concepts. Erik Smedley, county engineer for Bedford County, said the U.S. 221 traffic corridor has some of the worst congestion in the county. “There’s a pretty heavy crash rate through the corridor,” Smedley said. “It’s an area that is one of our priority focus areas. It made sense to partner with the CVTPO to try and get a study done and work toward some solutions here.” The goal is to finalize the recommendations for improvements along U.S. 221 this spring, using the feedback from Tuesday’s public meeting and the public survey. Many of the concepts presented at Tuesday’s meeting, including the thru-cuts, are designed to adjust how vehicles move through intersections. One of the thru-cuts is proposed for the intersection of U.S. 221 with Perrowville and Ashwood Park roads. If the concept is adopted, drivers would be required to turn left or right from Perrowville Road. Through travel to Ashwood Park Road would be prohibited. The same would be true for drivers heading toward U.S. 221 on Ashwood Park Road. Through travel to Perrowville Road would be prohibited. At the intersection of U.S. 221 and Enterprise Drive, EPR P.C. offered a visual of what flyover ramps would look like as traffic volumes increase in the area. “Safety is obviously a big factor with those designs, but they also help with keeping cars moving in a more efficient manner through these intersections,” Smedley said. As for timelines in starting work on any improvements, Smedley said if Bedford County were to apply for funding through the state’s Smart Scale program, the county would need to navigate a six-year funding cycle. “We’re not going to have something break ground next year,” he said. “But it’s the first step to get us where we need to go.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ https://newsadvance.com/news/article_a8cc163e-f077-11ef-96ce-57b3aaa76cda.html Work on US 501 and US 221 intersection years away as new car wash prepares to open The city of Lynchburg has tried its best to keep the traffic flowing as smoothly and safely as possible at the notoriously dangerous intersection of U.S. 221 and U.S. 501 as it awaits construction to begin on a reconfigured design that should improve safety for motorists and pedestrians. The intersection, long known as the home of the Billy Craft Honda dealership, has seen a significant increase in traffic over the past several years. In fact, the city commissioned a study nearly 20 years ago that investigated alternatives to improve traffic operations at the intersection as the city’s population increased. Since that study was commissioned in 2006, continued commercial development and population growth in Lynchburg resulted in the intersection becoming one of the most congested in the city. Lynchburg is currently negotiating with a new design consultant on a contract that it hopes to have in place this spring, which will allow the final design work on the intersection to be completed. According to an earlier timeline, construction on a new configuration of the intersection was scheduled to begin in 2022. But a previous engineering design consultant could not complete its work on the project, City Engineer Lee Newland said in an email to The News & Advance. The city terminated that contract and has been working with the Virginia Department of Transportation to meet federal and state requirements to hire a new engineering design consultant, Newland said. With a projected cost of $85.8 million, the city will need additional money to cover the growing price tag and will be looking at getting funding from the city’s capital improvement program and VDOT. Currently, the intersection project is due to receive $10.3 million in federal funds and $19.1 million in state funds. Under a revised timeline, construction on the intersection project is set to begin in spring 2028, with completion expected sometime during the winter of 2030-31. At Tuesday’s meeting of the Lynchburg City Council’s Physical Development Committee, Newland said “no” and “no”” when commenting on whether the project was on time and on budget. The intersection has been notorious for a large number of crashes. During a four-year span from 2018 to 2022, a total of 390 crashes were reported within about a one-block radius of the intersection, with 222 occurring at the intersection itself, WSET reported two years ago, citing Lynchburg Fire Department data. The Billy Craft Honda dealership didn’t survive at the location to see the completion of design improvements at the intersection. Work is underway on an Ultimate Shine Car Wash, a new business that will move onto the former site of the car dealership, across from the Fresh Market shopping center. With an address of 3914 Old Forest Road (U.S. 501), the car wash will be located in a 3,900-square-foot building, according to city documents. Original plans were for a Take 5 Express Car Wash to open there, but in early February, a new site plan was submitted for an Ultimate Shine Car Wash. In 2022, Lynchburg-based Craft Automotive Group announced it was selling Billy Craft Honda, Billy Craft Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram and Craft Hyundai to Charlottesville-based Carter Myers Automotive dealership group. The Honda dealership, now called CMA’s Honda of Lynchburg, is at 2634 Lakeside Drive. Ultimate Shine has locations in West Virginia, Ohio, Tennessee as well as in Roanoke, Christiansburg, Rocky Mount and South Boston. It was established in 2005. According to city documents, construction on the new car wash is expected to be completed by the end of March. The plans for the car wash were reviewed by city staff and were found to be in compliance with the existing concept plan for the intersection, Newland said. One of the oddities of the intersection is the use of Peace Street, behind where the car wash will be, as a cut-through for drivers who travel south on Old Forest Road and want to head west on U.S. 221. In fact, Peace Street handles the majority of the southbound traffic that wants to make a right turn at the intersection. When the vehicles reach the stop sign at U.S. 221, drivers are forced to sharply turn their heads to make sure no vehicles are coming, especially those traveling at high speeds off the Lynchburg Expressway. Among the proposed changes for the intersection, Peace Street will be turned into a cul-de-sac on the Old Forest Road side of the street. Two right-turn lanes will be established for motorists traveling from Old Forest Road and turning onto Lakeside Drive (U.S. 221) to allow a greater volume of vehicles to turn more safely, according to the proposal. The current design concept for the intersection has many innovative components, including having a split-pair design where the existing Old Forest Road (U.S. 501) will be used for southbound traffic. A new alignment, east of the current roadway, will be used for northbound traffic on Old Forest Road. As for improving pedestrian and bicycle safety at the intersection, additional sidewalks and shared-use paths, including protected crosswalks and refuge islands, are planned to increase safety where allowable, Newland said. Improvements to pedestrian and bicycle safety on the Lynchburg Expressway, south of the intersection, and on the Desmond T. Doss Expressway, will not be possible, he said. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Design of road improvements needed for marketing of excess right-of-way for economic development purposes and to improve function and safety of intersection/area. As of October 4, 2023, this project is included in the Capital Improvement Plan for FY2024-2028. Project is set for FY2027. *Project information has been obtained through a public capital improvement plan (CIP). A CIP is a financial schedule for short- and long-range projects which is updated regularly. Information listed in the CIP often evolves based on funding availability and the project details, including timeline and value, are subject to change. The content management team will continue to pursue additional details as they become available.