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Parkway trees will remain in median
Spotsylvania supervisors raise speed limit on Spotsylvania Parkway but spare trees
Date published: 1/11/2006
By GEORGE WHITEHURST Cars roll steadily down the new Spotsylvania and Southpoint parkways, but debate over the two roads hasn't slowed down. A divided Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors discussed the design of the Spotsylvania Parkway last night before voting 4-3 to boost its speed limit from 40 mph to 45 mph. Moments later, supervisors voted unanimously to turn the Southpoint Parkway over to the Virginia Department of Trans- portation, despite concerns that motorists could be in danger as they make left-hand turns out of the various stores and restaurants that line the road. Then supervisors unanimously agreed to ask VDOT to rename Exit 126 on Interstate 95 from Massaponax to Massaponax/Spotsylvania. If VDOT agrees, Spotsylvania taxpayers will foot the bill for new signs at the exit. Discussion of the Spotsylvania Parkway dominated last night's discussion of the Massaponax-area transportation network. The 2.3-mile-long road was built by the Fried Cos. of Springfield as a proffer for its 2,232-home Lee's Parke subdivision, now under construction. Making the road the centerpiece of Fried's proffer package to the county angered slow-growth activists and some supervisors. Supervisor Vince Onorato opposed the project as a board candidate in 2003. After the parkway's Dec. 13 opening, Onorato complained that its 40-mph speed limit was far too slow, arguing that motorists should be able to drive 60 mph on the road. He asked the county staff to devise a solution. The board, including Onorato, voted in October to set the speed limit at 40 mph, based on a request from the Fried Cos. Fried asked for 40 mph after VDOT demanded that the road's design speed be lowered from 60 mph to 45 mph. VDOT did so because it argues that the arrangement of trees in the median and the type of median curbing made the 60-mph design speed too high. The design speed is the speed at which a motorist can comfortably drive on the road, based on factors such as curvature, grade and the proximity to the road of obstacles such as trees. Harry Lee, an engineering manager with VDOT's Fredericksburg office, said the three rows of trees planted in the Spotsylvania Parkway's median present a potential hazard at a design speed of more than 50 mph.
Read more stories about Spotsylvania Date published: 1/11/2006
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