Coming soon to a road near you

 

Proposed improvements to Ashland Road/I64 interchange

On July 22, a VDOT public hearing on proposed improvements to the I-64/Ashland Road interchange, including a diverging diamond interchange (DDI) was held at Salem Baptist Church. Go to https://www.vdot.virginia.gov/projects/richmond-district/interstate-64-and-route-623-interchange-goochland/ for an overview. Go to  https://bit.ly/I-64AshlandRoadDDI for specifics. The project is currently in the design phase. A request for proposals will take place later this year. A design build contract will be awarded in the fall of 2026 with completion expected by summer 2029.

There interchange improvements are part of extensive road upgrades to Ashland Road north of I-64. Go to https://goochlandva.us/1396/Rockville-Opportunity-Corridor for details. This area, where an Amazon and large warehouse facility are under construction, has been designated for economic and industrial development for decades.

Email comments about the interchange project to Anthony.Haverly@VDOT.Virginia.gov by August 1. A questionnaire was part of an information brochure distributed at the meeting but does not seem available on the website. It asked for name, address, a choice of reasons for interest in the project, if you support the project and reasoning behind the answer, if you support the relocation of the park and ride and reasons for your reply, concerns about the proposed improvements, if sufficient information was provided during the public hearing, and how you learned of the meeting.

The event was robustly attended. GOMM arrived around the 5 p.m. starting time to find many people examining illustrations of the proposed road improvements. Folks were still entering more than an hour later. Conversations were animated.

As currently proposed, a second bridge over I-64 to the south of the existing span will be built to accommodate the DDI. According to VDOT “The DDI was identified as the best interchange design approach based on the approved I-64 and Ashland Road Interchange Access Report. A DDI achieves more efficient traffic flow due to the removal of conflicting travel paths and simple traffic signal phasing.

The DDI would remove the existing left-turn movement conflicts from the ramp terminals by converting these movements to unconflicted turns by crossing Ashland Road traffic to the opposite side of the roadway within the interchange footprint. A traffic signal at each crossover intersection controls the crossover movement as well as off-ramp traffic.”

The DDI at the Zion Crossroads I64 exit is an example of how the finished project will work. There were concerns about large trucks being able to navigate the DDI safely and how motorists would react to a very different traffic pattern. When finished, the DDI will give the Courthouse Village Roundabout competition for wry comments on social media.

Additional turn lanes, including one on southbound Ashland Road to the existing I 64 westbound on-ramp, which is currently under construction, are part of the project. This, and a temporary traffic signal on Ashland Road, south of I64 at the ramps there, are designed to ease congestion during construction.

The project also includes relocation of the existing park and ride lot from the northeast corner of the interchange to the west side of Ashland Road just south of I64. The new “Hickory Haven” park and ride will be larger than the current one. It seems like most of the morning traffic for this will be going east toward Richmond, which will require a left turn onto Ashland Road northbound.  The access point for the park and ride to Ashland Road will not be signalized. According to traffic engineers, the vehicle count anticipated when this is complete does not rise to warrant thresholds that VDOT uses to determine the need for a stoplight. They contended that there will be enough breaks in traffic to allow left turns toward I64 with minimal waits.

North of I64, the intersection of Ashland and Bennington Road, which is on the east side of Ashland, will be moved north to align with the entrance to the Martin Marietta quarry on the opposite side. Currently, there are no plans to signalize this intersection either. The Bennington connection was relocated to make it easier for vehicles to make left turns on to Ashland Road, which is difficult and time-consuming in current conditions.

Undeveloped land along Bennington Road is included in the county’s proposed Technology Overlay District and Technology Zone (see GOMM “In search of a bigger worm” for details), so it would seem like there should be a mechanism to signalize that intersection to encourage investment on those parcels without going through VDOT’s cumbersome warrant process.

Current cost estimates for this project are $91.7 million, according to VDOT. Funding is provided by a combination of state and local sources. Goochland Supervisors who represent the county on regional boards, especially Neil Spoonhower, District 2, our guy on the Central Virginia Transportation Authority (CVTA), worked hard with the Commonwealth Transportation Board and VDOT to bring all the funding pieces together.

Right now, the Ashland Road corridor is often very congested. In addition to traffic from businesses in the area, including quarries and a landfill, it is perhaps the shortest route to I64 for people from Hanover and western Henrico. When complete, the projects are expected to be able to handle increased traffic volume as the area grows.

The DDI and relocation of the park and ride have been bundled into one “design build” project, to allow the contractor greater flexibility during construction, which, hopefully, will enable it to come in on time and budget.

State funds for the project were approved at roughly the same time that Project Rocky got the nod from Goochland. While Rocky may have tipped the state funding scales in Goochland’s favor, without it, road conditions would have gotten worse with little hope for improvement.

In a perfect world, roads would be built to handle traffic before they get congested. We do not live in a perfect world.  Goochland does not build or maintain its roads, VDOT is responsible for this. Roads are expensive and VDOT processes and procedures add time and cost to projects. For instance, the promised improvements to Rockville Road that were included in the rezoning for Highfield, will be completed faster and less expensively by a private sector developer.

We hope that DDI and related improvements to the roads in question will ease congestion. Change is hard and this will be a big change. Please share your thoughts on this project with VDOT.