Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Roads Secondary Plan topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Louisa County supervisors direct VDOT to advertise amended six-year secondary road plan after funding shifts
Summary
VDOT told the board that a change in guidance removes a prior telefee allocation for rural additions and that telefee and district funds were reprogrammed to Hart's Mill and a countywide traffic engineering fund. The board voted unanimously to advertise a public hearing on the amended plan.
VDOT staff briefed the Louisa County Board of Supervisors on an updated draft of the six-year secondary road plan and the board voted to advertise a public hearing on an amended plan that shifts funding priorities.
At the workshop, the VDOT representative explained that new guidance makes the code section that previously allowed 5% of construction-formula (telephony) funds for rural additions inapplicable because those rural-addition allocations have not been distributed. "You cannot use telefees for rural additions," the VDOT representative said, adding that telefee receipts previously earmarked for a rural-addition balance have been reprogrammed into Hart's Mill and the countywide traffic engineering services line.
The VDOT representative identified two small rural additions removed from last year's rural-addition line—Albemarle Avenue and Piedmont Avenue—totaling about $107,000, and said a prior rural-addition balance of $340,223 was reallocated. He said the district grant for unpaved roads also must be used for roads already in the state system, and that roads not in the state system would need revenue-sharing, local contributions or other third-party funding.
Board members pressed VDOT on maintenance and resurfacing: VDOT said resurfacing and maintenance funds come from the General Assembly to VDOT and are allocated to districts and residencies; roads are selected for the paving schedule based on third-party pavement condition ratings and traffic counts. VDOT said the county's telefee inflow is roughly $98,000 a year and that if left untouched the countywide traffic-engineering balance would grow to about $512,000 by 2032.
A supervisor proposed a planning approach to preserve a small countywide balance while accelerating paving: "Why don't we take the 27, the 28, 29, the 30, and the 31? And why don't we just stick 10 k in each of those things?" the committee member asked, proposing that $10,000 per year be left in countywide traffic services as a placeholder and the remainder be redirected to the paving schedule to accelerate projects such as Hart's Mill.
VDOT said that approach would accelerate Hart's Mill and push other projects up the priority list as funds roll forward. The VDOT representative also said West Green Springs is fully funded but requires a formal rural-rustic resolution from the board before work can begin; he confirmed that the project is intended to remain gravel under the rural-rustic designation.
The chair called for a motion directing VDOT to advertise the public hearing on the amended plan; the motion was moved and seconded and passed unanimously. VDOT will advertise the public hearing and return to the board for final action at the scheduled follow-up meeting (the presenter cited a May 4 return date for final action). The workshop then concluded.
What this means: the county will advertise a public hearing on an amended six-year plan that repositions previously earmarked rural-addition funds into Hart's Mill and countywide traffic engineering services and that contemplates using telefee receipts to accelerate paving projects. The board did not adopt any pavement projects today; the vote authorized advertisement of the public hearing on the amended plan.
