Isle of Wight County is making a second attempt at securing state funding to widen Carrollton Boulevard.

County supervisors on Sept. 19 voted unanimously to approve a resolution supporting four applications for the sixth round of Smart Scale, a Virginia Department of Transportation formula for evaluating the cost versus benefit of roadway improvements.

At the top of the list is a request for $11.8 million, or 85%, of an estimated $13.8 million project to add a continuous right-turn lane at Carrollton Boulevard’s intersection with Smiths Neck Road, widen southbound Carrollton Boulevard to include a third travel lane, and install curb-and-gutter infrastructure and sidewalks. The work would serve as a first phase of a 2022 VDOT-recommended plan to reduce travel times.

The $18.2 million second phase, which would continue the third southbound lane from Smiths Neck Road to Carrollton Boulevard’s intersection with Brewers Neck Boulevard, is also on the list. Isle of Wight County previously submitted the first phase to Smart Scale in 2022, but the project didn’t make the cut for state funding in 2023.

The third project, also a repeat from the county’s 2022 requests, calls for converting the existing intersection of Carrollton Boulevard and Sugar Hill Road to a “Continuous Green-T.” The term, according to VDOT, refers to a design that allows one direction of highway traffic to pass through the intersection without stopping. Traffic traveling in the opposite direction is typically controlled by a traffic signal, though the Sugar Hill Road intersection would be designed without a traffic signal, according to the Smart Scale request, which seeks $5.5 million in state funding.

The fourth funding request seeks $5 million to extend the 2021-completed 10-foot-wide bicycle and pedestrian trail along Battery Park and Nike Park roads to follow an in-progress extension of Nike Park Road to Carrollton Boulevard. If funded, the work would double the three-mile trail to six miles. The town of Smithfield has long planned to build its own one-mile extension of the trail to follow South Church Street and connect to Windsor Castle Park, but the town’s phase remains unfunded. Last year, a $23 million request for the town’s portion, which would include widening South Church Street to include a center turn lane and providing curb-and-gutter drainage infrastructure for the trail, did not score high enough for state funding through Smart Scale.

According to VDOT’s website, Smart Scale scoring for the sixth round will be released in January. The Commonwealth Transportation Board will then release a draft 2025-31 six-year improvement plan by April listing projects that made the cut for state funding. The CTB is scheduled to adopt its final six-year plan in June.