BRISTOL, Va. – Work could begin next month on a long-awaited Lee Highway traffic signal.
The new signal will be installed at the entrance to the Wal-Mart Supercenter, near Superior Motors. On Monday, the Bristol Virginia Utilities Board of Directors unanimously approved paying the city’s half of the $135,000 project.
"We went through the bid process and our portion is $67,500," BVU President Wes Rosenbalm said. "We’re taking savings from our capital budget to pay for it."
Work could begin as early as May, but final scheduling depends on the contractor, Rosenbalm said.
The city is sharing the cost with Washington County, after the Board of Supervisors voted last year to pay up to $80,000 for the installation.
"That was very generous of the county to do that," City Manager Bill Dennison said. "But the bulk of the traffic is being generated by Sam’s and Wal-Mart."
The intersection, which is within the city limits, feeds traffic into big-box retailers Wal-Mart, Lowe’s and Sam’s Club that all generate sales tax revenues for the county.
"We started getting complaints about that intersection some time ago, but we had to wait until it met the state and federal warrants [guidelines] for a signal," Dennison said. "When they announced the Sam’s Club would open, that pretty much sealed it and we began the process."
The intersection qualified on both traffic volume and traffic-disruption criteria, because of left turns into and out of the retail center, Dennison said.
That section of Lee Highway carries almost 18,000 vehicles daily, while the private access road into the center handles more than 10,000 vehicles daily, according to a 2007 city traffic study.
dmcgee@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2532
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