Board approves the VDOT’s Secondary System Six Year Plan and budget

By Matt de Simone

The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) updated the Botetourt County Board of Supervisors on the current priorities in the FY 2025-2026 Secondary System Six Year Plan (SSSYP) during last week’s meeting of the supervisors. The board unanimously approved the plan and budget following a public hearing.

During the review, VDOT Assistant Resident Engineer Ashley Mothena went over the current plan which included estimated allocations, a priority list, and potential projects with estimated totals.

The plan’s funding is provided through Telefees ($493,854) and District Grant – Unpaved ($3,161,924) funds. The proposed FY25-30 Secondary System budget totals $3,655,778 across all six years. Telefees represent funds that can be used on various types of projects and fund countywide service funds. District Grant – Unpaved constitutes funds that can only be used to hard surface gravel roads already maintained by state and have a minimum of 50 vehicles per day.

The current priority list includes:

1. Route 645, Fringer Trail ($500,000) – estimated to be completed this summer/early fall

1a. Route 767, Blue Ridge Drive Drainage Improvements ($100,000) – estimated to be completed this summer/early fall

2. Route 712, Stevens Road ($550,000) – estimated to begin summer, 2025
3. Route 685, Ball Park Road ($400,000) – summer, 2026
4. Route 643, Mountain Valley Road ($250,000) – summer, 2027
5. Route 658, Laymantown Road ($50,000) – summer, 2027
6. Route 677, Roy Road ($500,000) – summer, 2028
7. Route 638, Old Hollow Road ($350,000) –summer, 2029
8. Route 728, Redbud Lane ($300,000) – summer, 2030
9. Route 600, Haymakertown Road ($400,000) – summer, 2031

Mothena shared that there are still $726,616 available in Unpaved funds and $641,901 in Telefees that could be applied to potential projects that include:

Potential Projects:

1. Route 684, Sugar Tree Hollow Road ($2.5 million) – this 4.5-mile project could take several years to develop in its entirety due to funds.
2. Route 638, Trevey Road ($450,000) – this project has drainage considerations which Mothena explained “could make the project a little bit more complicated.”
3. Hunters Green Subdivision ($600,000) – recently added as a potential project, this would involve a Full Depth Pavement Reclamation to Drake Trail, Pheasant Run, and Deer Track roads totaling 0.82 miles. VDOT proposes using unused Telefees in previous allocations along with this year’s and next year’s allocations that could total approximately $600,000 which Mothena shared that could take care of half the roads within the subdivision and it would be completed with next year’s paving cycle. She suggested adding this item as priority “2b” behind the Stevens Road project next summer.

Valley District Supervisor Mac Scothorn asked Mothena if the potential projects would interfere with any current projects on the Six Year Plan, to which Mothena informed that board that they would not.

“These are all Telefee funds that have not been allocated to any other projects,” Mothena explained. “The Telefees from previous years were left over from the Murray Drive project that were not needed to complete that project and there were funds from FY 24 Secondary Six Year funds, this year’s fiscal funds, and then the Telefees from next year’s we could allocate to come up with that $600,000. We wouldn’t be able to complete the project this year. It would be something we would be able to complete next year.”

Mothena explained the roads suggested were the roadways that needed attention. A full depth reclamation is a full tear out of the pavement structure and a rebuild, which makes the project so costly and why VDOT couldn’t repair the entire subdivision’s roads at once.