A number of residents who live on or near Little England Road in Hayes voiced their concerns with the condition of the road during Tuesday’s Gloucester Board of Supervisors meeting.

The public comments were made in conjunction with the Virginia Department of Transportation quarterly update, which was given at the meeting, which was held in the colonial courthouse.

Glenn Wilson of Oyster Cove Road was the first to address the road condition. Wilson said the road he lives on and the nearby Little England Road are too narrow for two cars to pass each other. Sharp turns on those roads add to the danger that drivers face. He also pointed to a serious drainage problem on the road because of the lack of maintenance performed on the ditches.

Randy Orga said drivers on Little England Road often get into accidents because of how narrow the crumbling road is. He recounted seeing two school buses on the road trying to pass each other. One bus had to drive into the ditch while the other was in someone’s yard. He said he’s seen cyclists have to clear the ditch just to avoid getting hit.

Orga also brought up the tar of the surface treated road that notoriously oozes out from the road, gets on people’s vehicles and ruins shoes. He said when it’s hot you can hear the tar popping. He said he’s had the tar tracked on his driveway and even into his house.

As to Oyster Cove Road, Orga said it looks like nothing more than a “cattle trail.” He said the folks who live down Oyster Cove had to first find then clear out the road’s drainage culvert themselves in an attempt to address some of the drainage issues.

Annick McCamley of Degrasse Drive said she had been trying to get VDOT to resurface the road, something that she has not seen in the 30 years she has lived there. She said she wasn’t concerned about enlarging her road, just having it be in better condition.

Mike Armstrong of Little England Road addressed the narrowness of the road but also addressed concerns about some motorists speeding. The posted speed limit is 25 mph but many drive much faster. He asked that a speed bump of some kind be installed to address that issue. He also echoed the crumbled state of the road that others had spoken to. He said this condition can cause drivers to lose control, especially when the roads are icy.

Tom Townsend of Shorewood Farm Lane said the area of Little England Road is surrounded by water, and is an evacuation zone. He said there are more than 300 households in this area. He said he has been calling VDOT for five years to ask for work to be done, which he added has been minimal. He said that VDOT always informs him that they are either understaffed, underfunded or that Little England Road isn’t a priority.

Patrick Grill of Victory Hill Road said all can see that Little England Road is in subpar condition. He said the road also works as a sidewalk and bike lane for the people who live down there. He said VDOT needs to recognize that improvements are necessary.

Several written comments and voicemails were also submitted to the board to be read and played during the meeting. The comments echoed those in attendance with some also calling for the road to be repaved.

Board member Phillip Bazzani, who lives on Little England Road, echoed the issues voiced by his neighbors. He said the flooding in the area is a significant issue. He said a major storm could cause Little England Road and the roads branching from it to become isolated due to flooding similar to the effects Hurricane Isabel had on the area in 2003.

Bazzani said he traveled with fellow board member Kevin Smith one day to show him the conditions of Little England Road. During that visit, four school buses were attempting to pass one another on the road. He said one was completely in the ditch to give way to the other three. He saw a cyclist at the same time have to jump into a ditch to avoid being hit by the buses.

Smith said he didn’t believe how bad the condition of Little England Road was until he saw it for himself. He said those school buses were close enough to scrape each other. He saw a bus leave tire marks in a person’s yard. He said if a child had stuck his arm out the window of the bus, he would have lost it.

Bazzani said he told his constituents who reached out to him looking for solutions to draw up a petition to attract the attention of VDOT. They did just that, getting around 300 signatures.

Following his presentation, Lee McKnight, Saluda Residency Administrator for VDOT, addressed concerns of Little England Road. He said that West Point was applying for Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation flood grants. He said those grants could also help the area that Little England falls in, including Guinea.

McKnight said the tar problem is common for surface-treated roads. He said more resurfacing could help the issue in the short term, but not solve the problem permanently.

Bazzani asked if the road could be asphalted. To pave it with asphalt, McKnight said money would have to come through the General Assembly as construction funds. For it to be considered a maintenance request, it would have to be resurfaced and maintain its status as a surface-treated road.

The widening of the road could be possible and could be prioritized through the county’s secondary six-year plan it has with VDOT as a construction project. He said there were plenty of funding options to apply for but didn’t mention any by name outside of the DCR.

Board chair Robert Orth suggested VDOT create a plan of action for both short- and long-term improvements. This way people could see some actual work being done, instead of just talk on possible solutions. He asked for such a plan to be presented to the board at VDOT’s next quarterly update.

ARPA

Supervisors voted unanimously to allocate the county’s remaining funds that were provided by the American Rescue Plan Act. Of the projects funded, $27,656 was allocated for additional funds needed for Social Services premium pay which was approved to be funded at a prior meeting.
The remaining $694,139 was allocated to the Boys and Girls Club for renovations and for renovations for the Main Street Library. The Boys and Girls Club received $243,114 and library received the remaining $451,025.