State Police will increase patrol on Route 460 this weekend as students head for college

There are 222 miles of U.S. Route 460 between Petersburg and Christiansburg, and the Virginia State Police plans to patrol every inch of it this weekend as college students start returning to school for the fall semester.

This week, VSP announced “Operation College Safe Return” will be run Aug. 16-17 along that highway transversing at least eight counties, five cities and five incorporated towns. The agency said Route 460 was chosen because of its proximity to seven institutions of higher learning – Virginia State University in Petersburg, Longwood University in Farmville, Lynchburg’s Liberty and Lynchburg universities, Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia Tech in Blacksburg and Radford University.

In addition to returning students, VSP also noted that Route 460 is especially busy on Fridays as people leave work for the weekend. Closer attention will be paid to reckless and aggressive driving by the increased patrols.

“Operation College Safe Return is a proactive measure to protect our young people as they return to campus,” 1 ^st Sgt. Eric King of the VSP Appomattox Division said in a statement. “By increasing our presence on U.S. 460, we aim to deter reckless driving and create a safer environment for all motorists.”

The program is patterned after a similar venture last May on U.S. Route 58 in southern Virginia. With assistance from local police departments, the five days of increased patrols netted 96 drivers for speeding and made one arrest for driving while intoxicated arrest.

That operation covered 116 miles of Route 58 between Emporia and Danville.

Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is an award-winning journalist who covers breaking news, government and politics. Reach him at batkinson@progress-index.com or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @BAtkinson_PI.

This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: State Police will increase patrol on Route 460 this weekend as students head for college