By Roslyn Ryan
Editor

Powhatan County officials have drafted a letter to Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, after learning of the General Assembly’s refusal to fund road improvements tied to the county’s planned state park.

While funding for the Powhatan State Park on the Historic James has been approved, the General Assembly will not be funding what county leaders say are necessary road improvements to the intersection of Route 711 and Old River Trail, where the entrance to the park will be.

“We are dismayed,” read the letter, which was also sent to Senator John Watkins and Delegate Lee Ware, “because in our endorsement of Powhatan State Park we were very clear in our need to improve, for safety reasons, an intersection that is already a safety hazard.”

The letter was signed by Board chairman Bob Cosby, who recently met with a group of home owners from the Old River Trail area. Cosby pointed out Friday that at least three of those residents own property that will be directly impacted by the proposed road improvements.

Now they must wait to see what the state legislature will decide.

“I feel for those people, I really do,” said Cosby. “Because they don’t know what to do.”

Supervisor Carson Tucker said Friday that the intersection is dangerous enough as it is; school bus drivers face a perilous task when attempting to pull out onto 522 during their routes, along with the addition of an estimated 190,000 travelers a year visiting the park.

According to the most recent trip counts from VDOT, the road sees around 4200 vehicles travel past the intersection every day.

While both Cosby and Tucker insisted last week that they viewed the road improvements as a crucial part of the new park’s construction, State Parks Director Joe Elton said Friday that he didn’t think the delay in road improvements would necessarily hinder the start of the park’s construction.

Since they have the money, he said, “there would be no reason to hold back on getting that started. Still, even if work on Phase I is completed, the park still faces at least one other hurdle before it can welcome its first visitor. While funding has been approved to cover the building of Phase I projects such as trails, picnic areas and other day use amenities, the funding to actually staff the park has not yet been approved.

County officials say Powhatan’s planned State Park, the entrance of which will be located near the intersection of Route 522 and Old River Trail, should not be opened until the intersection is improved.  |  Graphic by Brian French