A new roundabout is beginning to take shape at the intersection of Brooks Mill Road and Burnt Chimney Road in Wirtz. It will be the second in the area constructed to improve safety at once dangerous intersections.
Construction began on the $4.7 million project in June. Funding was provided through Virginia Department of Transportation’s Smart Scale program which provides funding for road projects throughout the state based on safety, congestion reduction, accessibility, land use, economic development and the environment.
According to VDOT, between May 2013 and April 2019, 23 crashes occurred at the intersection. Of those crashes, 11 were angle crashes, which tend to be the most severe. Approximately 4,900 vehicles use the intersection each day.
In March 2016, a fatal crash at the intersection led VDOT to create a four-way stop there. The intersection originally had stop signs for cars traveling on Brooks Mill Road.
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“The new roundabout would be a physical measure that would reduce the risk of angle collisions, minimize the risk of vehicles failing to stop, and help improve operations as vehicles proceed more efficiently through the intersection,” according to the description of the project on the VDOT website.
Construction on the roundabout is expected to be completed by January.
As construction of the newest roundabout winds down, the county’s first roundabout at the intersection of Virginia 122 and Hardy Road has been completed for more than a year now.
Safety at the intersection has seen noticeable improvement since the roundabout was completed. According to VDOT spokesperson Jen Ward, in the three years prior to the installation of the roundabout there were 15 crashes, including five rear-end crashes and 10 angle crashes.
Ward said the rear-end and angle crashes are typically more severe. Those crashes resulted in three deaths and 16 injuries.
In the 11 months of crash data since the roundabout’s completion at Hardy Road and Virginia 122, Ward said there have been six crashes that include five fixed-object crashes (typically hitting a sign or other object) and one collision with a deer. Those crashes resulted in just two injuries.
“The number of crashes per year is about the same, but the severity of the crashes has been reduced thus far,” Ward said.
According to VDOT, a roundabout is seen as a safer alternative than a traffic light because it reduces the number of points where vehicles can cross paths and minimizes the potential for right-angle and head-on crashes because all movements are right turns. Roundabouts also force vehicles to slow down at the intersection which reduces the chance for high-speed collisions.
