3 phases of an evil road

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				THE
Column Archive				VIRGINIA GAZETTE
				WILLIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA
3 phases of an evil road				November 23, 2011

If VDOT were a person, you would have to conclude that he takes pathological delight in boiling the blood of drivers who have to deal with his insatiability for long-term upheaval.

Almost two months ago, VDOT tore up all the paving on Chickahominy Road, leaving only the rough underbed for drivers to bump and grind over. It remained like that for a few weeks before - voila! – they painted two yellow stripes down the middle of the road! And there it sits unpaved.

But perhaps the most intriguing recent undertaking of VDOT is its venture into the wonderland of Ironbound Road. There drivers have been treated to a miracle mile of lane closures, orange barrels, intersection nightmares and what looks like an attempt to pave something or other for months now. And it’s just beginning.

According to the VDOT website, this enhancement project will go on forever, or at least until 2013, if not beyond.

We are now, says VDOT, in Phase One of three phases. During the first phase, “significant construction activities will occur north of New Town Road on the west side of Ironbound.” This phase will be completed in the fall of 2011.

I suppose what you see taking place out there now are significant construction activities, if you consider something that at one point looked like a war zone bombed by drones significant construction. How the casual observer could drive through that chaotic cataclysm of so-called construction and come to the conclusion that the utterly unsightly mess is the end of a phase is beyond me.

But wait. Maybe it’s not the end of Phase One we’re looking at, but the beginning of Phase Two, which VDOT tells us also will begin in the fall of 2011. Yes, that must be it, since Phase Two will involve “several traffic shifts as new lanes open.” This phase will involve “construction activities concentrated at the Strawberry Plains corridor” and will be finished in the fall of 2012.

There certainly have been numerous traffic shifts, as drivers are shunted from one spring-bashing, tire-wearing Third World two lane road to another. On the other hand, I see no evidence of more lanes opening anytime soon. The intersection at Discovery Park Boulevard is still a bottleneck with no turn lanes, and the light complex at Monticello Avenue and Ironbound is about as nightmarish as it gets. Anyone who tries to drive from Richmond Road to New Town on Monticello is quite out of his mind.

Well, not to worry, because in the fall of 2012, the long-anticipated Phase Three begins.

This will “conclude the final configuration on Ironbound Road at Carriage Road.” In addition, we can expect medians, curbing, crosswalking and landscaping during this phase.

Just what the “final configuration on Ironbound Road” means is hard to tell, unless it indicates that at last we’ll be able to tell where Ironbound Road really is, and perhaps we’ll get a chance to drive on it.

While I suppose that four lanes are inherently better than two in the minds of some, you really have to wonder why, since traffic had been flowing smoothly on the previous two lanes, the neighborhood opposite New Town has been turned topsy-turvy and businesses along Ironbound have been subjected to enormous disruptions and losses for the dubious advantage of widening the road.

Thanks to turning lanes and the new light complex at Monticello and Ironbound, access to New Town had been no problem, and traffic on Monticello was moving briskly without any long lines.

I suspect that much of it had to do with the visual proximity of the homes across from New Town that, despite the fact they’re well kept, always have been an eyesore to some muckity mucks in New Town. And, if that’s the case, shame on them.

Meanwhile, enjoy your drives on what passes for Ironbound Road now and pray for the quick advent of Phase Three.