Road work

Goochland supervisors addressed a number of transportation—read road—issues at their November 7 meeting.

In the afternoon, they wrestled with solutions to a conundrum for roads in the Bridgewater subdivision near Oilville. Begun just before the collapse of the real estate market, Bridgewater was never built out. A bond with Essex Bank to complete road construction was allowed to lapse by the county.

Fast forward to 2018. Several homes have been built and occupied, but the Bridgewater roads were never brought up to VDOT standards so they could be turned over for state maintenance. Homeowners, who had no idea that the roads were not complete, recently learned that they were “on the hook” for the cost of completion.

Needless to say, Bridgewater folks were not happy about the situation. While it is easy to say “let the buyer beware,” that they should have asked more questions before buying their homes, does it really occur to people to ask if the roads, which seem to be paved, are paid for? The real  question is, who pays to fix it?

The recent road improvements to Rt. 250 west of Oilville Road, which were a migraine to many, had beneficial unintended consequences for Bridgewater. Among the incomplete road improvements were turn lanes at both entrances. The county, which , according the County Administrator John Budesky, had no idea that the roadwork was planned before it started, was able to work with VDOT to complete the turn lanes for $50,000. This amount, contended Budesky, is far less than the estimated $200,000 cost as a stand-alone project.

District 3 Supervisor John Lumpkins said that he attended two three hour meetings with Bridgewater residents where the county’s longstanding policy of not building subdivision roads was upheld. He said that the situation is terrible for the citizens, but the rest of the county’s citizens have no obligation to pay for those roads.

Essex Bank  holds land at the back of the subdivision and has indicated a willingness to split the proceeds of its sale with the county. Putting these funds, the “county portion “estimated at $164,000 toward the total paving costs and creation of a service district, funded by homeowners, established to cover the balance seems to be the preferred solution. Lumpkins wanted to make it clear to Bridgewater homeowners that they are expected to cover the difference between funds obtained from the sale of the land and find cost of completing the roadwork.

Part of the problem is that the exact, or even a reasonable estimate of the cost of completing the project is unknown. Budesky said that some preliminary cost estimates varied so widely as to make them unreliable. Until “the bidding community” believes that there is a committed finding mechanism for this project, it is unlikely that a contractor will invest the time and money to craft a sound bid. Until reliable cost projections to complete the project are available, the county cannot tell homeowners what the difference between the money available and the final cost, which Lumpkins contends is the responsibility of the Bridgewater homeowners. Homeowners are understandably reluctant to agree to a service district without knowing the ultimate cost.

Lumpkins supports the county’s position of not building subdivision roads and using the proceeds from the Essex sale for road improvements. Budesky said that until a firm cost for the work is established it is impossible to determine if establishing a service district is cost effective. If the cost above and beyond the proceeds from the property sale is relatively small—no amount was mentioned—it would cost more to  “mail out the envelopes” for a service district than just pay the difference, Budesky contended.

Manuel Alvarez Jr., District 2, observed that over the past seven years, this board has spent county funds to correct situations caused by the failures of their predecessors.

The supervisors voted to appropriate up to $50,000 to pay for the entrance turn lanes and get more accurate estimates to complete the work; to assign up to $164,200 from the land sale proceeds contingent on the county entering a settlement option with Essex Bank;  and a service district or other funding source being available to complete the necessary work. Budesky was also authorized to obtain a bid to complete the subdivision road improvements.

The supervisors authorized Budesky to spend $42,000 for preliminary engineering design work on rerouting Ashland Road to connect with Hockett Road south of Rt. 250. Although this was considered a few years ago, complete with come funding and the blessing of the regional transportation groups, it was back burnered when businesses on the north end of Hockett Road objected. At completion, this connector is expected to take some of the pressure off of northeast bound Hockett Road traffic. Will this pave, so to speak, the way for further residential rezonings in the Hockett Road corridor? Stay tuned.

Completed roads in the Parkside Village subdivision were turned over to VDOT for maintenance. This action is unrelated to the rezoning of land and rerouting of interior roads in Parkside Village that was approved earlier this year.

The grand finale was the approval of the county’s 2040 Major Thoroughfare Plan, which has been in the works for most of the year. As approved, the MTP includes widening to four lanes Fairground Road between Rts. 522 and 250 and Oilville Road from Interstate 64 to Rt. 250, which will not be widened between the two intersections.

Doug Adams, who lives near the Fairground Road/Rt. 250 intersection and is often serenaded by the sirens of emergency vehicles responding to wrecks there, asked how will funneling four lanes of traffic into two work. The traffic engineer from KimleyHorn, consultants retained by the county to craft the MTP, explained that the extra lanes on both Fairground and Oilville Roads will act as turn lanes with only one lane turning onto Rt. 250. This is where you scratch your head and say “okay?”

The supervisors also declined to  identify roads in the Southern Prime Economic Development (SPEDA) area, which is between West Creek and Hockett Road a bit south of Tuckahoe Creek Parkway.  However the supervisors also indicated that when SPEDA landowners have concrete development plans for their property, the matter could be revisited.

So when are we going to have flying cars?