Changes ahead for Greenview Drive in Lynchburg
JILL NANCE/THE NEWS & ADVANCE
Traffic barrels line the route along Greenview Drive, which will remain under construction for about a year as it is widened.
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By Alicia Petska
Published: November 18, 2008
Construction has begun on the first phase of the Greenview Drive widening, a major project expected to take about a year to complete.
The busy road will remain open to vehicles throughout construction, although drivers are advised by the city to expect changing traffic patterns and possible delays.
The speed limit will be reduced to 35 mph in the construction zone — a change that will be permanent upon the project’s completion.
City officials recommend finding alternate routes when possible.
Greenview Drive is being widened from two to four lanes. The first phase of work extends between Frederick Drive and Hermitage Road, and includes utility work, new curbs and gutters, sidewalks, street lighting and traffic signals.
The project — which shot up the city’s list of priorities following the approval of Cornerstone, a development bringing hundreds of new homes to the corridor — has a budget of $3 million.
Funding is coming from the city budget and already has been allocated. The second phase, which will carry through to the Leesville Road intersection, will be bankrolled by a
combination of local, state and federal money.
On Tuesday, the city announced work had begun on phase one. Traffic Engineer Gerry Harter said the first order of business is building a temporary lane of traffic on the eastbound side of the road.
Vehicles will then be rerouted, allowing traffic to continue flowing while construction takes place on the westbound side.
Counts & Dobyns Inc. of Rustburg is handling the construction work.
The Greenview Drive project’s second phase has no concrete start date, but will not begin until phase one is complete. The city is now beginning the bidding process for engineering work on that later stage.
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Reader Reactions
Posted by ( wokisan ) on November 25, 2008 at 7:56 am
Cleocat,
You’re right, I must admit that many NOVA residents could not have imagine the growth they have experienced over the past 15 or so years. Still we don’t have the economic engine that is our nation’s capital fueling our growth. And you know according to the latest figures from UVA our MSA is now very close to the 240K mark.
It is true growth should always be intelligently managed, but as a lifelong resident here….it is sooooooooo nice not having to drive to Roanoke, Greensboro, or Richmond just to go to a Best Buy. I hope Lynchburg continues to grow in a way that benefits us all and gives our kids a bigger and better reasons to stay here after graduating from UVA, Tch, JMU, etc.
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Posted by ( Cleocat ) on November 24, 2008 at 8:23 pm
Wokisan,
The population of Lynchburg city is around 71,000. That’s not taking in to account the surrounding areas
(Amherst, Bedford, Madison Heights, etc, etc, etc) and the people that work or commute thru the area.
The MSA or Metropolitan Statistical Area is around 230,000.
Back in 1990 a small and considered out of the way county called Loudon had around 86,000 “peeps”. Now it has around 268,000. Thats just one little county in around 15 years. I watched as farther and farther away from D.C. became “close” enough for many people. Don’t be fooled into thinking it can’t happen here. I am not saying we have anything like the draw of Nova here but this place lured me…I moved here to get away from it. I am sure I am not the last one that will come.
Cheers!
Check this out for some fun facts about Va’s population. Yea! Progress.
http://www.npg.org/polls091200/va_paper.html
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Posted by ( markluvslabs ) on November 24, 2008 at 8:16 pm
A YEAR? A whole year? To widen one stretch of road and add long overdue turn lanes to the intersection of Leesville & Greenview? This is unbelievable. I would love to compare this with work in other states. I can’t imagine why this couldn’t be done in a matter of months. Like a very few months. They just rebuilt the collapsed bridge in Mn in less than a year, but we can’t make a four-lane road in Lynchburg? Was an incentive given for early work? Why wasn’t this done before any of the building took place on Greenview?
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Posted by ( wokisan ) on November 24, 2008 at 7:02 pm
@ Cleocat
Well, I doubt we will ever see traffic here as bad as NOVA…unless 2 million more peeps are planning to move here soon.
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Posted by ( Cleocat ) on November 24, 2008 at 3:18 pm
I must laugh at what people consider “traffic” and “congestion” here. It’s quite a hoot! Take a drive up north to the once beautiful and now overdeveloped Northern Virginia. Take a look ( well, you’ll have nothing else to do but look as you sit in hour long traffic to get 3 miles down the road. I know. I moved here to get away from it. Ha.)at what you will soon have if you let the developers have their way.
Developers + ignorant city planners + uneducated and inexperienced council persons = progress! Yea. Sweet progress. I know I used to love to drive for 2 hours to go 30 miles. And sounds like the good people of Lynchburg will soon get to love it too!
Think this is bad….you ain’t seen nothing yet!
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Posted by ( wokisan ) on November 23, 2008 at 9:05 am
@ damalama
You got that right about Wyndhurst. No one seems to drive the speed limit over here. Greenview Drive will be a mess regardless because Cornerstone is going to add soooo many cars on that road (if it builds out completely in this economy).
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Posted by ( damalama ) on November 21, 2008 at 6:49 am
I don’t understand what the anger is about with the speed limit. They are adding sidewalks, and there will most likely be crosswalks there as well. Meaning they are expecting alot of pedistrain foot traffic to be walking along the road ways, and the last thing you want is for people to be given the excuse to even go alittle faster, because people don’t even obey the speed limit now, for some reason they THINK they can go 5 over the limit. With just a curb and two feet seperate a car and a person walking, the speed limit needs to be lower. It’s 35 through Wyndhurst, and people rarely obey that speed limit, only a few times do I see LPD out there enforcing it, however there really isn’t anywhere for them to be able to enforce with the landscape median and limited parking, hopefully Lynchburg will keep that in mind when designing this road that they need to make it easy for police to enforce the speed on the roads.
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Posted by ( Wayne H ) on November 20, 2008 at 7:35 am
Oh and while the City is to add two more lanes to Greenview Drive why not also add one lane to all of Lakeside Drive. Do any city officials use that road at anytime during the day, especially between 10am-2pm or 4pm-8pm, because it gets pretty congested. Traffic is usually backed up from the Chevron Gas station in front of the News & Advanced all the way passed the Ford dealership to those new townhomes. It is utterly ridiculous how this city all manages to make the situation worse when it comes to traffic on the roads with its so call road improvements.
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Posted by ( InnocentBystander ) on November 19, 2008 at 4:02 pm
but that’s the point too. the speed limit is ALREADY 45 but n oone pays attention and they do 35. widen the road and KEEP IT at 45. too bad no one with any authority will read this…
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Posted by ( Wayne H ) on November 19, 2008 at 3:48 pm
I agree with InnocentBystander because if the goal is to make the road wider then it makes perfect sense to increase the speed limit to 45 mph or at the very least 40 mph. Greenview Drive is a main thoroughfare to 460 and the commercial mecca of Lynchburg (Wards Rd.)I don’t know who makes these decisions but I would guess that they never use Greenview Drive or even understand how bad the traffic is there. Making it easier to put more cars on the same road at the same slow speed only adds to the congestion. I think it’s time someone younger should have some input on what this city is doing because it effects them the most in the long run.
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