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Planning Commission debates whether to retain four‑lane US‑360 goal amid VDOT feedback
Summary
Staff reported VDOT comments that four‑laning US‑360 from Heathsville to Reedville is unlikely under current Smart Scale scoring; commissioners agreed to add VTRANS/Smart Scale context to the Comprehensive Plan and keep the four‑lane aspiration in the document to preserve the project on record.
During a work session at its Jan. 15 meeting the Northumberland County Planning Commission reviewed comments from the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) on the county’s revised Comprehensive Plan and debated whether to remove or retain a goal to four‑lane US‑360 from Heathsville to Reedville.
County Planner Stuart McKenzie told the Commission that VDOT’s review flagged several items (including an incorrect route number in one passage) and noted the Plan currently lacks bicycle and sidewalk recommendations; McKenzie said the county lacks committed funding for such infrastructure. McKenzie recommended adding a section describing the Commonwealth’s VTRANS Plan and the Smart Scale project‑scoring process so the Plan explains why some rural projects score poorly for competitive state funding.
VDOT’s written review, as summarized by staff, characterized four‑laning US‑360 as an unlikely outcome under present funding and scoring priorities, but commissioners discussed keeping the four‑lane goal in the Comprehensive Plan as a way to preserve the project for future consideration. "If four‑laning is not in the Comprehensive Plan, it is guaranteed to never get built," McKenzie said; commissioners debated that argument and the practical limits on rural project funding under Smart Scale.
Commissioner John Kost recommended adding language to the transportation chapter addressing the school‑period congestion at the Academic Lane/US‑360 intersection and volunteered to draft that section. Commissioner Allen Garland, citing his experience directing traffic there, said sun‑angle glare and morning congestion create safety concerns and that VDOT has repeatedly declined a signal based on traffic counts; Garland noted VDOT had proposed a roundabout as an alternative at considerably higher local cost.
Commissioners also agreed to include forestry statistics provided by the Virginia Department of Forestry (VDOF) covering 2015–2024 — acreage, species composition, harvests and stand age data — and to consider adding a forest statistics page to Chapter 1. McKenzie said he would correct the route number error and incorporate VTRANS/Smart Scale context and the VDOF data into the next draft of the Comprehensive Plan for Commission review.
