Mills Ave. options explored
, Staff Writer
02-19-2008
FAIRLAWN — The Pulaski County School Board has been considering four options for dealing with road entrance conflicts at the new Riverlawn Elementary School, but now a fifth option has emerged.
“There is a fifth option the school board is negotiating with the property owners to try to meet the goals and satisfy everyone,” Pulaski County Community Development Director Shaun Utt told the county planning commission.
The county is proposing to close the north end of Mills Avenue because Virginia Department of Transportation officials indicated Mills and the entrance to the new Riverlawn School (named Beth Nelson Drive) violate VDOT regulations requiring 250 feet between road intersections. At present, the entrances to Mills Avenue and Beth Nelson Drive are only about 50 feet apart.
It wasn’t until after Beth Nelson Drive had been constructed that the conflict came to light.
Although there are only a few houses on Mills Avenue, the biggest concern about closing it would be the effect on Fairlawn Grace Brethren Church, which is nearest the intersection.
In December, planning commission members said they would like to know how the county got into this position in the first place.
Planner Frank Conner, also Massie District supervisor, said he would like to know where the fault lies in the failure to notice the problem, saying it seems either VDOT or the school engineers should have caught the situation before it got to this point.
No one has ever said with whom lies the error.
The planners were slated to consider the first four options at its February meeting, but Utt said School Superintendent Dr. Don Stowers recommended the issue be tabled once again to give the board time to negotiate the fifth option that has arisen.
Utt did not specify what the fifth option is other than to say it would probably be a combination of some of the other four options.
The planners agreed to table the issue until their next meeting, March 13.
The four options already under consideration are:
•Close the north end of Mills by dead-ending it adjacent to Viscoe Road. Existing asphalt would be replaced with a drainage ditch. The area would be seeded with the exception of a “T” turnaround at the end of Mills Avenue to give traffic a means of reversing course. There are four advantages, including that no additional property will have to be acquired; and one disadvantage, that churchgoers will have to travel out of their way down Brooklyn Road to get to Mills Avenue. The estimated cost of this option is almost $10,840.
•Move the Mills Avenue intersection about 150 feet south on Viscoe Road, thus turning the existing slanted entrance to Mills avenue into a perpendicular entrance with Viscoe. There are three advantages, including an improved entrance angle and continued state maintenance of Mills Avenue. The two disadvantages are that additional land will have to be acquired and Mills Avenue may continue to be used as a cut-through road. The estimated cost would be $52,640, excluding the cost of acquiring additional property.
•Close the north end of Mills Avenue and construct a new entrance to the church off Beth Nelson Drive. There are five advantages, including no need to acquire additional property. The four disadvantages include the church having to maintain its new entrance and the entrance becoming a short-cut to Mills Avenue, thus impacting school traffic and safety. The estimated cost is $89,340.
•County abandonment of Mills Avenue to remove it from the state highway system. The road would end near the church’s existing entrance. Asphalt would be removed from the remainder of the road and the area would be grassed. Three advantages include eliminating existing cut-through traffic on Mills Avenue and no need for a turnaround. The two disadvantages are that churchgoers and residents of Mills Avenue would have to undertake the cost of maintaining Mills Avenue and two properties will lose road frontage. The estimated cost is $13,240.
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