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Originally, it was supposed to be done by now. The Keysville roundabout, as late as September, had an expected finish date of November. But that was before some of the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) crews went digging. 

“The delay in completion is primarily due to unsuitable soils that were encountered in the earlier stages of the project during excavation for the roundabout and ramps,” said Len Stevens. He works as Communications Director for the Lynchburg district of VDOT.  

Basically, as work crews continued digging up the ground, they quickly learned it wasn’t a good idea to place sidewalks or other material there, as the soil just would not support it. 

“Unsuitable soils are those that are too wet (or) too soft to adequately support the pavement structure above,” Stevens explained. 

So that meant having to delay work for a bit, as VDOT hauled in a different type of soil to replace the material originally there. That created a domino effect of sorts, delaying other parts of the project scheduled to take place this fall. And so, instead of finishing on schedule, now work will be pushing into December, with quite a bit left to do. 

“Remaining work includes surface paving, pavement marking, permanent signs, placing fill along shoulders, seeding, and completing punch list items,” Stevens said. “The unplanned work that was required to mitigate the unsuitable material resulted in a delay to the project schedule.”  

Now as for positive news, traffic has finally been moved into the permanent configuration. This is how the roundabout is supposed to look, minus all of those final assignments. And so, two-way traffic is being allowed along Route 15, with the on and off ramps to Route 360 now open. You just have to go slow. 

Challenges for Keysville roundabout

Working around challenges is nothing new with this project. A portion of the roundabout was redesigned in 2020 after a VDOT virtual public hearing drew comments about a safety issue, with residents concerned about sight distance and traffic flow.

Now if you want to steer clear of the project until it’s complete, VDOT officials suggest that some people use a detour of sorts. Take Route 15 South across Cabbage Patch Road, then connect with Route 360 and travel west on 360 to avoid construction. 

When all is said and done, what will this $5.2 million project look like? It’s already been a long time coming, with plans in the works for close to six years. VDOT officials believe due to the area’s accident history, the roundabout will improve the intersection.

According to transportation documents, the previous intersection had a major road (two-way, not divided) as well as an off-ramp and an entrance leading to an off-ramp, all connecting at a three-approach stop-sign intersection that was in a grade curve.

That wasn’t a good thing.

“Sight distance, as well as traffic flow, currently contributes to driver error,” county leaders said in the original application, asking for state funds. “This project will replace the stop-sign intersection with a roundabout to allow for a more fluid entrance and exit to the off-ramps and take the sight-distance issue out of the equation.”