Lower Speeds Will Make Va. 151 Safer For All

The News & Advance
Published: July 28, 2008

The wheels of government can be slow, but rarely as slow as the effort to reduce the speed limit on portions of Virginia 151 in Nelson County.

Although speeds on a few stretches of the scenic highway have been reduced to 45 mph, the Nelson County Board of Supervisors wants the limit dropped from 55 to 45 on another area that has been under consideration for about two years.

A series of accidents on the highway between Nellysford and the area north of the intersection with Virginia 6 has left seven people dead and a number injured in the past two years.

Residents who live along the highway called on the state to take several moves to make the road safer. They proposed a ban on through trucks — mostly tractor-trailers — that use the narrow, curvy road to shave off miles between the U.S. 29 corridor and Interstate 64. They also proposed lowering the speed limit on portions of the road from 55 mph to 45 mph, especially near dangerous intersections.

The supervisors have recommended lower speed limits along another stretch of the highway — 45 on a stretch from just north of Bland Wade Lane into Nellysford. The state transportation department did lower the speed limit to 45 on a stretch north of the intersection with Virginia 6 last year.

But County Administrator Steve Carter said there is a need for a consistent, lower speed limit along that stretch, where a number of accidents have occurred. “There is a lot of traffic on that road,” he said, adding that much of it is created by motorists, including truckers, who use it as a shortcut from I-64 to U.S. 29.

Supervisors and residents who live along the highway have raised concerns about the high volume of truck traffic on the roadway. VDOT studied the issue and determined that finding an alternative route, one that would not produce “undue hardship” on the drivers, could not be found. Since then, the county’s inquiry on a possible ban on through trucks has stalled.

In spite of the obvious factor of making the highway safer for those who live and work there, Carter said it “seems unlikely” that the ban on trucks will ever happen.

So that left the lower speed limits as the next best alternative. The county administrator said the county is still wording its resolution for specifics on the location of the new 45 mph speed zone, but he expects it to be ready soon.

Kevin Wright, a residency VDOT administrator, said once VDOT receives the resolution, the residency office in Amherst would study the traffic and engineering factors to determine the proposal’s merit.

It has been a long two years since the accident involving a cargo truck and a van killed a mother and her two daughters. The public outcry over the potentially unsafe conditions on Virginia 151 was significant. And it succeeded in small steps. But one must hope that the state will approve additional moves to lower the speed limit on the heavily traveled, two-lane highway.

The lower speed limits for longer stretches of road may be enough to discourage those using the highway as a shortcut — especially the truckers. That would be a nice dividend for the 45 mph speed limit, wouldn’t it?