By Stefanie Jackson – The Virginia Department of Transportation gave its final approval for the Cape Charles Food Lion project that was modified to include a traffic signal at the intersection of Route 13 and the shopping center’s south entrance.
Chris Isdell, VDOT’s Accomac residency administrator, reported the news to Northampton supervisors March 12.
The road safety enhancement project originally included wider, longer turn lanes, tapered road edges, upgraded road markings and signs, and additional lighting, but no traffic signal.
When citizens at a VDOT public hearing last July demanded a traffic signal for the busy intersection, Isdell was concerned that the entire project would have to be resubmitted for review and could be rejected.
But that speed bump was avoided, and the only other action that is required is finding more funding, Isdell said.
The addition of the traffic signal drove up the total cost of the project from $1.7 million to $1.9 million, a 13 percent increase.
Isdell previously estimated the traffic signal might cost around $500,000.
Construction is expected to begin in July 2020 and end in April 2021.
Isdell informed supervisors on upcoming repairs to Cemetery Road. That project will cost $925,000 and is scheduled from November 2022 to October 2023, at the same time the road will be repaired in Accomack County.
The chairman of the board of supervisors, Spencer Murray, remarked that he and Supervisor Oliver Bennett have worked on that project since 2006 and “both of us hope that the repairs are made before we’re actually in the cemetery.”
“I would hope so, too,” Isdell said.
He also addressed maintenance issues. The Eastern Shore avoided a major weather event this winter like the blizzard last January, but wet and rainy conditions have created a “host of challenges for us with drainage” that are keeping VDOT workers busy on a daily basis, he said.
Isdell introduced the new assistant Accomac residency administrator, Tommy Spring, who filled the position after a two-year vacancy.
