By Sarah Vogelsong
CP Reporter
The Board of Supervisors last week voted to oppose two plans for detours proposed by the Virginia Department of Transportation as part of two separate road improvement projects.
The first detour, related to the replacement of a bridge over the Mattaponi River on Route 722, Nelson Hill Road, would re-route drivers for 4.8 miles along Rogers Clark Boulevard.
The second detour, related to the replacement of a bridge over the Poni River on Route 606, Stonewall Jackson Road, would redirect drivers for 20 miles along a route covering portions of Macedonia Road, Summit Crossing Road, Massaponax Church Road, Jefferson Davis Highway (Route 1), and Mudd Tavern Road. A memo from VDOT explains that this alternative path was chosen to accommodate tractor trailers and vehicles towing tractor trailers.
Both detours would be in place for seven months, starting in May 2016.
An alternative to full closure of the sections of the roads where the bridgework will take place is to close only a single lane at a time while construction occurs. VDOT memos state that a single-lane closure approach will increase the estimated duration of both projects from 7 to 14 months.
All of the supervisors present voted to recommend that VDOT forgo both proposed detours in favor of single-lane closures because of the inconvenience that the full closures would cause to citizens.
Port Royal Voting Change
Also at the Aug. 26 meeting, the board approved an amendment to county ordinance that moves the polls for the Port Royal precinct from the Port Royal Volunteer Fire Department on King Street to the Town Hall next door.
According to John Nunnally, chairman of the Caroline County Electoral Board, the shift was primarily for convenience. Because of election rules, firefighters were not permitted to walk through the voting area but instead had to loop around it in order to discharge any necessary duties at the station.
“As nice as they were to let us use (the building), it’s very disruptive,” said Nunnally, a former firefighter himself.
When Mayor Nancy Long offered the Electoral Board the use of the Town Hall, it seemed like a good solution, particularly because Port Royal’s July boundary line adjustment necessitated the mailing of new voter cards to individuals who had previously been residents of the county and now are residents of the town.
Under Virginia state code, notice of any adopted change to a polling place must be mailed to all registered voters of that polling place at least 15 days prior to the next election that will be held there.
Consequently, the Electoral Board decided to kill two birds with one stone and notify all voters, new and existing, of the polling location they will use in the upcoming election through a single mailing.
“We have strategically done this … so that we only have to do this once,” said Nunnally.
Combining the two mailings also allows the Electoral Board to save some money, Nunnally pointed out.
All voters in the Port Royal precinct should receive their new voter card in the mail.
Reedy Church representative Reggie Underwood was absent from the Aug. 26 meeting. The next meeting of the Board of Supervisors will be held Sept. 9.
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