The Virginia Department of Transportation will hold a public hearing about improvements at Route 522 (Front Royal Pike) and Costello Drive and Travelodge Lane in Frederick County.
The meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, July 8, 2025, from 4 to 6 p.m. at Millwood Station Banquet Hall, 252 Costello Drive, Winchester, VA 22602.
Residents may come in 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 Mr. David Robinson, P.E., Project Manager. Virginia Department of Transportation, 811 Commerce Road, Staunton, VA 24401-9029. Oral comments can be recorded at the meeting with the assistance of a court reporter.
The project is in Frederick County, just east of the City of Winchester. The project improvements affect the intersection of Route 522 (Front Royal Pike) and Costello Drive and Travelodge Lane, which serves local commercial retail businesses. The purpose and benefit of the project is to improve traffic flow and operations at this intersection by adding roadway capacity.
Route 522 is a north-south highway. Costello Drive runs east-west.
The project includes one additional southbound left-turn lane on Route 522 onto Costello Drive. The end result is dual-left turn lanes from southbound Route 522 onto eastbound Costello Drive.
The new left-turn lane will be 275 feet long with a 185-foot taper, which will serve queued southbound traffic turning from Route 522 onto Costello Drive.
The intersection will also be converted to a thru-cut. A thru-cut intersection is a configuration that restricts thru-movements from the side streets to reduce overall delays. A median will be installed on Route 522 between Costello Drive and Travelodge Lane.
As a result, the traffic signal will be modified to change the traffic pattern from Travelodge Lane onto Route 522. The new traffic pattern will include dedicated eastbound left, thru and right turn lanes. Westbound will be a dedicated left and a shared thru/right lane.
The intersection will also feature high-visibility crosswalks.
In 2023, Costello Drive had an average daily traffic count of 2,600 vehicles per day. By the design year of 2046 the estimated average daily traffic volume is 29,400 vehicles per day.
More information can be found on the VDOT website.
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Rebecca Barnabi
