Three options to reduce travel times on Route 17
Published 6:25 pm Tuesday, March 29, 2022
A Virginia Department of Transportation study recommends three options for reducing travel times on Carrollton Boulevard (Route 17).
The first, priced at $6.1 million, would entail adding more turn lanes at Carrollton Boulevard’s intersection with Smith’s Neck Road. It would also include crosswalk improvements and extending the existing turn lanes leading to the Eagle Harbor shopping center, Northgate Lane and where Carrollton Boulevard would intersect the planned extension of Nike Park Road.
The second, priced at $8.5 million, would include everything in the first option, plus traffic signal improvements.
The third option, priced at $20.2 million, would include everything in the first and second options, plus the creation of a third southbound lane from the Raceway gas station at Kings Cove to the intersection of Carrollton and Brewer’s Neck boulevards.
The study had initially looked at five scenarios, but narrowed the list to the three recommendations. The first and second options are numbered as such in the study, but the third option is listed as No. 4.
The $6.1 million option is projected to save 4.7 minutes of travel time by 2030 compared to leaving the road as-is for commuters heading north toward the James River Bridge in the morning, and 14 minutes of travel time for commuters heading south from the James River Bridge in the evening.
The $8.5 million option is projected to save 4 minutes of travel time by 2030 for northbound morning traffic and 13 minutes for southbound evening traffic.
The $20.2 million option is projected to save 4.5 minutes of travel time by 2030 for northbound morning traffic and be the largest time-saver for southbound evening traffic, with a roughly 20-minute reduction in travel time.
The study was restricted to the portion of Carrollton Boulevard spanning from the James River Bridge to its intersection with Brewer’s Neck Boulevard. Another study, which will examine the highway from the Carrollton-Brewer’s Neck intersection to Isle of Wight County’s border with north Suffolk is currently underway.
