Flashing lights are going up on Route 60 in Buckingham

The lights are going up on Route 60. Actually, by the time you read this, they’ll already be in place. Over the last several months, Buckingham County Supervisor Cameron Gilliam has pushed for flashing lights to go up at the intersection of Route 60 and Route 632, citing the multiple traffic accidents that have taken place there.

There have been traffic studies requested and approved by the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT). And plenty of data collected about the number of accidents and potential impact the lights would have. Then on Monday, Sept. 9, during the Buckingham Board of Supervisors’ meeting, VDOT engineer Scott Frederick told the group the traffic study showed what Gilliam had been pushing for, that flashing lights might cause people to slow down as their vehicles enter the intersection, potentially saving lives.

“We’re gonna move forward with installing the flashing LED stop signs,” Frederick said. “Now’s the time to do it. We reviewed everything that we put in place and all the crash history there. It makes sense to do it now.”

As for the flashing LED stop signs, Frederick said it turned out that VDOT already had a couple in stock, so there was no need to order any. Instead, VDOT has been out at that intersection this week, putting them both up.

What’s been done on Route 60?

Besides putting up the lights, VDOT work crews have been a pretty constant presence over the last couple of months at the 60/632 intersection, applying what Frederick said was “the kitchen sink” to the problem.

Last year, VDOT put a sign up, warning people as they approached the intersection. The data shows as long as they paid attention, it was ok. One Route 60 crash last year was a resident who admitted to being distracted. Another was a teen driver, who admitted to being not focused on the road.

In June of this year, VDOT tried something else. Workers started clearing the right shoulder on both approaches to Route 60. The goal here is for people to never have to worry about tree branches blocking the view again.

The second step was installing stop signs at all approaches. These are the signs Gilliam wants flashing lights on, to draw people’s attention to them. And these signs are oversize, a 48 x 48 design. The signs were also installed closer to the shoulder of Route 632. Step three involved VDOT workers adding transverse rumble strips on each approach.

Blue Rock Resources has also helped the project, as the company donated 15 feet of additional easement area on both approaches to Route 60. That let VDOT cut the brush further back. Now drivers can see the stop signs from much farther back, as well as more of the road in all directions.

The final part of the project involved VDOT hiring a contractor to come in and trim four remaining trees. The power lines in the area made it so work crews were leery about trying to cut them down on their own. Instead, VDOT hired a specialist group to tackle the problem.

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