The Virginia Department of Transportation is moving ahead with plans for its redesign of the Route 17/Route 610 (Davenport Road/Woods Cross Road) intersection, with the final design to be presented to the public this fall and construction tentatively scheduled to begin in the spring of 2025 and be completed sometime in late 2026.

The proposal seeks to reduce the risk of crashes, injuries and fatalities at this intersection in northern Gloucester County by removing left turns and through movements at the intersection. All side street approaches would begin with a right turn. Drivers would turn right onto Route 17 at the intersection before making a U-turn at designated locations, which are approximately 700 feet from the intersection. The modified design would also provide drivers with sufficient space and time to merge onto Route 17 then travel to the U-turn location.

The plan was the subject of a Design Public Hearing, which was held on July 18 at Rappahannock Community College, Glenns. Saluda Residency Administrator Lee McKnight gave the presentation and answered questions from the public.

McKnight’s presentation consisted of a discussion of current conditions of the intersection, improvements completed since 2022, the crash data for the intersection, the new modified design for the intersection and its purpose and benefits, and the timeline for the project.

McKnight began discussing the current conditions and the crash data of the intersection.

“Nearly 70 percent of the crashes at this intersection have resulted in injuries or fatalities,” he said. “There have been two fatalities since 2022. This road is on an Arterial Preservation Network and it is a hurricane evacuation route.

“This is some of the data, how it breaks down. Ninety-nine percent of the crashes at this intersection are what are known as angled crashes. So, you can think of that as your T-bones. Those are the most dangerous types of crashes within an intersection. Of those crashes, 68 percent resulted in 22 injuries. There were two fatalities and 22 of the crashes resulted in property damage.”

McKnight also talked about the safety improvements that have been made to the intersection since 2022.

“So, with recent improvements, we did change the yield signs, the stop signs in the median,” he said. “The grassy berm was removed from the south side of that median intersection in the grassy island on the Woods Cross Roads side of Route 17 was also removed for sight distant purposes.

“In addition, there were rumble strips installed on Route 17 northbound and southbound approaching the intersection to alert motorists that there is an intersection coming up that has safety concerns. There’s flashing yellow lights to try to get their attention or, at a very minimum, get them to put their phones down as they get to that intersection.”

McKnight also talked about the signal warn analysis and its results. He spoke about how the intersection did not meet the criteria based on network analysis and that several things were considered. He also said that there was a lower safety benefit of the signal in comparison to the safety improvement project.

“You would expect to see about a reduction of one-third of the crashes with the signal whereas with this project you’re looking at about a two-thirds reduction in these types of accidents,” said McKnight.