The Botetourt Board of Supervisors was expected to approve a Six-Year Secondary Road Improvement Plan— with priorities for the new fiscal year (FY19) that starts July 1—when it met Tuesday afternoon.
The board held a public hearing that had just $418,370 for unpaved road projects– $37,000 more than the fiscal year that’s just ending.
Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) officials recommended spreading those funds across existing approved road projects to provide the greatest benefits, according to a summary provided by the county administration.
The funds would be used over the course of the next two years to reconstruct and hard surface 4 miles of White Church Road northwest of Fincastle as a Rural Rustic Road project. Construction would begin in late summer 2019.
The funds would also be used toward another Rural Rustic Road project— 1 mile of reconstructing and hard surfacing Stone Coal Road west of Fincastle. VDOT expects to advertise that project in July 2020.
The No. 1 priority in the six-year plan is improvement to Glebe Road in Daleville. Vertical curve improvements on that road are expected to cost $1.9 million. Additional right-of-way is also needed.
The supervisors also have four other projects on the six-year plan that runs through 2024. Those are either Rural Rustic Road or Pave-In Place projects for gravel roads.
They are, by priority, 1.2 miles of Clydes Run Road in the Fincastle District, .84 mile of Prices Bluff Road in the Fincastle District, .5 mile of Back Creek Lane in the Buchanan District and 1.2 miles of Stevens Road in the Amsterdam District.
While the Glebe Road project is the No. 1 priority in the plan, the only funding available through the secondary road plan now is for gravel roads. It’s possible it could be funded through VDOT’s Smart Scale program. There is $378,021 allocated already for the project, but VDOT doesn’t expect advertisement for the project until the winter of 2031. The only funding expected to be allocated over the next six years is annual amounts for right-of-way acquisition.
Under current and projected funding levels, the secondary road plan estimates it will take $470,000 for the White Church Road project and $449,316 for the Stone Coal Road project.
The Clydes Run Road project, which is forecast to be advertised for construction in March 2021, is expected to cost $400,000.
The Prices Bluff Road project that’s expected to be advertised in September 2022 is estimated to cost $350,000.
The Back Creek Lane project that’s expected to be advertised in March 2023 is estimated at $250,000.
The Stevens Road project that’s expected to be advertised in September 2023 is estimated to cost $550,000.
VDOT is wrapping up the financial end of four other completed projects— the Catawba Road/Etzler Road intersection and new bridge over Amsterdam Creek cost $7.86 million; realignment and improvement to the intersection of Blue Ridge Turnpike at US 11 that cost $888,508; the McFalls Road Rural Rustic Road project that cost $408,395, and the $204,473 Rural Addition project to hard surface British Woods Drive.
Funds for the secondary road construction plan come from Telecommunications Fees— fees VDOT collects for the use of VDOT right-of-way by telecommunications companies— and VDOT’s Unpaved Roads Construction Program.
