Road bumps?

To pave or not to pave. That was the question for residents of the County's backcountry roads at Greene's Board of Supervisor's meeting July 8.
A total of twelve citizens spoke to the issue. Some residents of Stanardsville's Middle River Road even presented the Board with a petition to stop the scheduled paving of that road.
"We don't want our road paved," said Sonya Ogura. She was one of the 18 people who signed the petition.
Fellow resident Jim Ballard disagreed.
"In summer … any major thunder storm washes the gravel off the road … those at the far upper end, we can't get in or out," he said. "In winter, (during) the freeze-thaw cycles several stretches get very soft."
Middle River Road - along with Bingham Mountain Road, Octonia Road, Rosebrook Road and South River Road - is on the County's Six-Year Plan list of roads to be upgraded under the Virginia Department of Transportation's (VDOT's) Rural Rustic Road program.
The Program - which, essentially, puts pavement down over gravel on low-volume roads within the state's secondary road system - has recently been changed. The permissible volume on candidate roads was raised from a maximum of 1,000 vehicles per day to a maximum of 1,500 vehicles per day.
Perhaps as a result, people not normally in attendance at Board meeting turned out July 8 to have their say.
Ogura wants it to remain unpaved because, she said, the area is "a peaceful place to live.:
"Sure, we might have floods, the roads get torn up, Ogura argued, "but … it's a great place to raise your kids … it's a great place for pets, horses and walking. If they pave those roads it's going to make people want to drive ... faster and … that's … a danger."
Ballard argued that the Program, "with its tar and chip sealing, will solve both (the Road's summer and winter problems).
"The sealed road surface will let overruns from overflows run down the road without stripping off the gravel that goes in the River, the ditches and the property alongside," Ballard continued.
He called the Board's attention to the fact that along with the gravel that goes into the River, go chemicals used to control dust.
David Minton is another Middle River Road resident who argued for the paving.
"I've had to replace bearings; I've had to replace ball joints; I've had to replace mufflers," Minton claimed. "Most all of that has happened about twice as fast (as it usually would). Most all of that is because of the moisture accruement and the sludge that gets up (under the vehicle) and the gravel and the fact that the (road) isn't entirely even because it's washed out."
Robert Marshall did not sign the petition, but argued against paving Middle River Road. He said he believed that paving it would lead to an increase in traffic, and pointed out to what he considers hazards.
Middle River Road, Marshall said, provides "access to Shenandoah National Park (as well as) trout fishing. It's advertised in major magazines. Part of the guidelines for Rural Rustic is that the road is traveled mainly by residents that live on that road. You're going to pave that road and increase traffic volumes."
In fact, according to VDOT's criteria, traffic should not be expected to increase significantly over the next 10 years on a road paved under the Program.
Two of the hazards on Middle River Road Marshall pointed out are low water bridges, one with nine double curves leading to it.
"There are no railings; there's no support to keep people out of the rivers," Marshall said. "The first one is 10 feet wide, the second one is wider; one car can pass at a time, that's it. You need to know that road to know where the curves are, we have public that for the first time are (traveling) Middle River Road. They have no idea what they are encountering."
But Marshall -- and others -- spoke for paving Sims Road, or Route 642.
"It's a one and 8/10-mile stretch between Middle River and South River," Delbert Frey told the Board. "All the residents and landowners that I approached were 100 percent in the affirmative as far as being enthusiastic about paving the road."
Marshall pointed out that on Sims Road, "We've got a minimum of 14-feet width everywhere."
But according to VDOT, 18-feet wide roads are "desirable" for the program.
And, while spot improvements are to be made to Rosebrook Road from the vicinity of Snow Mountain Road (Route 626) to Haneytown Road (Route 631), some residents would like to see more.
"We all know that the school bus drives down (Rosebrook Road) twice a day 10 months out of the year and I'd say probably 70-75 percent of that road you can't get two vehicles past at the same time," said Tracy Arrington. "We've pulled several cars out (of ditches)."
Another of the criteria for the Program is that roads must not have any special needs regarding
alignment, drainage or safety issues. VDOT official say that while the lower end of Rosebrook is an ideal candidate for the Program, the upper end of Rosebrook does not qualify.
"There are a lot of areas where the road is very narrow … it's going to need some roadway realignments and relocations," said Allan Sumpter, VDOT's area manager. "It would be necessary for us to program money into … it can be put in the Six Year Plan … with the understanding that we're talking about a different scope of project."
Chairman of the Board Steve Catalano said the Board was not qualified to decide for itself which roads would be placed on the Six-Year Plan.
"We're not traffic engineers," he noted. "We would only make an arbitrary and probably wrong decision if we arbitrarily put a (road) on the Six Year Plan."
Sumpter concluded: "We will be updating the Six-Year Plan come this winter."