The Virginia Department of Transportation will hold a public hearing on improvements to Route 11 (Lee-Jackson Highway) in Augusta County.
The meeting will be held between 4 and 6 p.m. on Wednesday, October 30, 2024, in the Dairy Barn Lecture Hall at the Frontier Culture Museum, 1290 Richmond Avenue, Staunton.
Residents may come in anytime during the meeting hours and discuss the project on a one-on-one basis with VDOT officials and designers. Written comments may be submitted at the meeting or within 10 days after the meeting date to Ms. Tracey Bowman, Project Manager, Virginia Department of Transportation, 811 Commerce Road, Staunton, VA 24401-9029. Oral comments may be recorded at the meeting with the assistance of a court reporter.
The project’s purpose is to improve operational safety for the Route 11 corridor in Augusta County from the intersection with Route 1049 (Rolling Thunder Lane) through the interchange with Route 262, to the Staunton southern city limits. The portion of Route 11 currently has two through-lanes in each direction and a two-way left-turn lane in the center of the roadway.
Between Rolling Thunder Lane and the Staunton southern city limits, the project will replace the center turn lane with raised medians that allow left turns only at designated median openings. Most of the commercial access driveways and side streets will be restricted to right turns in and out between Payne Lane and the northern intersection with Orchard Hill Circle, which will reduce crashes by restricting the number of conflict points onto Route 11. The project proposes minor lane modifications between Rolling Thunder Lane and Frontier Drive.
The project will construct a sidewalk on the eastern side of Route 11 from Frontier Drive to the existing sidewalk near the Staunton city limits. Multimodal improvements also include crosswalks, ADA-compliant facilities and traffic signal modifications.
A Strategically Targeted Affordable Roadway Solutions (STARS) study of Route 11 from Rolling Thunder Lane to Commerce Avenue in the city of Staunton was completed in 2018. The segment of Route 11 in Augusta County was included in the study. The recommendations for operational and safety improvements were submitted by Augusta County and funded in the 2020 SMART SCALE Round 4.
In 2022, the segment of US 11 had an average traffic county of 12,127 vehicles per day. By the design year of 2048, the estimated daily traffic volume is 13,700 vehicles per day.
The total estimated cost of the project is $3,344,819, including $607,708 for preliminary engineering, $665,359 for right-of-way acquisition and utility relocation and $2,071,752 for construction.
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Rebecca Barnabi
