Roundabout part next

 

The long awaited Hockett Road realignment will be built

On June 11 Goochland and VDOT held a location public hearing on the realignment of Hockett Road. Under discussion in various forms since at least 2013, the proposed road project will bisect the parcel of land at the end of Ashland Road south of Broad Street Road to connect with Hockett Road. A public hearing of design of the project is currently scheduled for September 8, 2025

The meeting presented three slightly different versions with a roundabout where Hockett Road and the Ashland Road extension connect. There will be no change to the signalized intersection of Broad Street and Hockett Roads. The most likely scenario—as this was the first step in the lengthy and complicated road building process and could change before construction begins not before 2028—shows a roundabout a bit north of Holly Lane with a stub into undeveloped land on the west side of Hockett Road.

Road building is a complicated process. Long before a single shovel full of dirt is moved, other factors must be addressed. These include acquisition of rights of way; environmental concerns; civil rights; and design.

The proposed road is .5050 miles in length from Holly Lane to Ashland Road. The projected cost is $17.6 million, which could change in the next four years. Of that, the cost of engineering of roadway plans is estimated at $1,568,000; right of way acquisitions, relocation assistance and utility relocation $3,394,119; and construction $12,899,963.

Tom Kendrick, P.M., the preliminary engineering manager for VDOT, explained that the proposed roundabout will be built with a turning radius to accommodate large trucks and school buses without “rolling the kids around” as they negotiate it.

He said that the roundabout will be designed to handle current traffic and growth projected to 2040.

Speed limits in the roundabout will be 25 mph. Kendrick said that extensive signage well before the roundabout will ensure that drivers do not “sneak up on it”. Other warning devices would be pavement marking and possibly lighting. (Please use that wonderful reflective paint that makes road markings look like runway lighting at night with no need for electricity.)

Kendrick said that a traffic study about the appropriateness of speed limits would be conducted after completion of the roundabout. There were several comments that the current speed limit on Hockett Road, 55 mph, is too fast. Congestion at the south end of Hockett, where it intersects with Rt 6, was also mentioned, but that area is being addressed in another study.

The Hockett Road extension, said Kendrick, was expected to be built long before now, but the economic downturn of the Great Recession moved it to a back burner. Funding from federal, state, and local sources has been secured. He contended that the pandemic changed land use patterns and the current regional transportation (read roads) model is a “best guess” of what the future will bring.

Kendrick said that he expects construction of the roundabout will cause minimal traffic disruption as it will mostly occur at the side of Hockett Road.  There could be a weekend closure to connect all the pieces near the end of construction. The rest of the extension cuts through an open field and the stub for Ashland Road south of Broad Street Road is already there and not expected to change.

Go to https://www.goochlandva.us/1254/Hockett-Rd-Realignment for more details.

Send public comments about the project to Kendrick at Thomas.Kedrick@VDOT.Virginia. Gov by June 22, 2024.