A-NPDC NEWSLETTER, PAGE 2

VDOT PRESENTS FINAL U.S. ROUTE 13 RECOMMENDATIONS

The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) has completed the U.S. Route 13 / Wallops Island Access Management Study and presented its final recommendations to the Accomack County Board of Supervisors on May 29, 2002 and to the Northampton County Board of Supervisors on June 5, 2002. The study recommends $139.3 million worth of improvements to U.S. Route 13 and Route 175 over the next 20 years, including $7 million in short-term safety improvements. The recommendations include corridor-wide policy actions and physical improvements, as well as site-specific highway improvements in both counties.

Corridor-wide policy actions include adoption of access management guidelines by VDOT, adoption of conceptual highway plans by local governments, and adoption of highway corridor overlay zoning district ordinances by local governments. “Access Management” refers to a variety of techniques for improving roadway safety to reduce highway congestion, including safer standards for commercial development, consolidating entrances and driveways, adding turn lanes, modifying medians, eliminating or adding crossovers, adding or synchronizing traffic lights, and constructing alternative roadways. Short-term corridor-wide safety improvements include installing shoulder rumble strips, raised pavement markers, mile markers, turn lanes, and safer drainage structures.

Site-specific physical improvements also include short-term and long-term goals. Short-term projects include clearing vegetation, improving intersections, widening medians, and constructing frontage roads in densely developed areas. Major long-term projects include the following improvements in Accomack and Northampton:

Accomack County

Route 175 paved shoulders
Oak Hall/Temperanceville Bypass
Medians in Mappsville, Nelsonia, and northern Accomac
Access road between Community College and Industrial Park
Access road between Route 179 and Chesapeake Square in Onley
Relocate railroad and build medians in Melfa, Keller, and Painter

Northampton County

Access road at Fresh Pride/Trawler
Relocate K-Mart traffic light and build access road into Exmore
Relocate railroad and build median in Nassawadox
Improve Machipongo intersection
Overpass at Route 184
Improve Cape Center access
Improve State Park access

The U.S. Route 13 / Wallops Island Access Management Study was conducted by Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc., of Glen Allen, Virginia. Copies of the study, maps, and aerial photos can be reviewed on-line at www.virginiadot.org. From the VDOT home page, click on Projects. When the map comes up, click on the Eastern Shore. The U.S. Route 13 / Wallops Island Access Management Study will be listed under the Hampton Roads District projects. The study can also be reviewed at the VDOT Accomac Residency Office in Accomac, 757-787-1550.