Construction starts this week to turn a Route 53 intersection on a blind curve into a roundabout in Fluvanna County.
Crews will straighten out Route 53 to build the roundabout at the intersection with Route 600 (South Boston Road). Over a four year period, the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) counts 12 accidents at the intersection, most of them traffic turning onto Route 53.
The $2 million roundabout is expected to be finished by next April. It's the first of six planned projects to make this stretch from Fluvanna to Albemarle County safer.
Tom Braithwaite, who lives in Lake Monticello, said, "It's just a high-speed blind turn. That's the whole problem with that."
Janice Eanes of Fluvanna added, "There's an awful lot of traffic on 53. It's just not built to handle what we have."
VDOT spokesperson Stacy Londrey said, "This is one area where we found there are some places we can do relatively small projects such as adding a turn lane or smoothing at banking of curves to improve safety."
Next year, VDOT will fund construction of turn lanes from Route 53 onto Lake Monticello Road and Milton Road. Three other intersections between Monticello and Route 20 will also see smaller safety upgrades.
