Article: New Rt 9 @ Keyes Gap + Construction Photos

[LFE]

SIMS roller coaster... build it like a virtual roller coaster.

[Chutney Daftcraft]

Funny enough, this is one place where a well-designed traffic circle would work wonderfully. It could be done with minimal grading. This intersection - as designed - is begging for a stoplight with green arrows.

I personally think they should remove the Charles Town Rd designation and make it Blue Ridge Mountain Rd. The only unfortunate side to that is everyone's address on that road would change.

Also, the 9 sign on the right is Virginia Route 9, so the sign should look like this:

va7.JPG

[derricksonb]

Where is Torlones in all of this? In fact if one wants to stop at Torlones are they going to be able to???? From the pic it looks like Torlones sits on the DEMOLISHED ROAD aka Old 9?

I believe you would have to zoom out a bit as the parking lot for Torlones would be just south of the small wooded area where the new road and old road beds converge.

[derricksonb]

Funny enough, this is one place where a well-designed traffic circle would work wonderfully.

Not just No, but HELL NO!!!!!! A traffic circle at this location would be as stupid as placing traffic signals. Sure it sounds easy and be of minimal impact to traffic, but consider a fully loaded semi (80,000 lbs) travelling east bound having to come to a full stop on that grade either because of a red light to allow west bound traffic to turn left onto Old Rt9 (Rt155 or Blue Ridge Mountain Road- whatever you want to call it) or because some Jackass in the traffic circle will not yield the right of way to the truck because their time is more precious than anyone else.

you never want to place a traffic circle on a hill. That's the definition of poor planning.

[Tony]

you never want to place a traffic circle on a hill.

True; that's why they cost a bit more since they require the ground be leveled first. Done all the time.

[derricksonb]

True; that's why they cost a bit more since they require the ground be leveled first. Done all the time.

Are you going to level the entire mountain thus negating the incline from west of the Shenandoah to the VA line? If the answer is no then the traffic circle would still be constructed ON A HILL and cause major traffic delays due to stopping and restarting of commercial vehicles.

Can you actually provide examples of traffic circles that are built on hills? I'd love to see how that would work in a real world application. I'd also be curious to know accident statistics and how well they work during inclimate winter weather.

[MoeMoe]

I believe you would have to zoom out a bit as the parking lot for Torlones would be just south of the small wooded area where the new road and old road beds converge.

wow.....Its that far back from the border? I cannot picture this whole thing at all....I just cannot...hope you guys take some real pics when possible....

[Willis]

hope you guys take some real pics when possible....

Courtesy of "Fly by Air" version 3 with Nanuk piloting and Chip Gallo, ace photographer, snapping pics. Taken on June 3rd, 2011, the bridge has yet to span the river, the overpass at Hostler Rd is done and the beginnings of the interchange "from Hell" can be seen at the top of the image. The general area of Torlone's is noted.

[MoeMoe]

thank you! so there is not bridge even now?...my next question was going to be...where is the river.....thanks again

[Willis]

The photo posted two up was taken in June. I'd guess the bridge is much further along by now. maybe one of our viewers can tell us. Better yet, maybe someone can get a current photo from the air, ground or-maybe from the river

[KatherineA]

There are traffic circles all over the place around Gloucester, MA. They are super efficient and I have yet to see an accident. Where they are, however, has been graded so that the circle and roads leading into it are relatively flat.

[LFE]

They've been hauling a lot of steel towards it....

[John]

As of this morning they have one of the required steel beams all the way across, and the rest on the Charles Town side of the Bloomery Road tunnel ready to go. Any volunteers to walk out on the beam for a photo of the river from the mid point of the crossing?

[c_and_j]

my buddy took this on the first from blomery side

[LFE]

As of this morning they have one of the required steel beams all the way across, and the rest on the Charles Town side of the Bloomery Road tunnel ready to go. Any volunteers to walk out on the beam for a photo of the river from the mid point of the crossing?

If you are willing to get into one of your kayaks, I can push you off while holding our new waterproof camera and we can get a really unique perspective on things :-)

[Willis]

From the same source as up-thread

[Black Dog]

From what I'm seeing it looks like the new road will be 2-lane (1 each way) rather than the 4-lane I was expecting. Is that so?

[Willis]

From what I'm seeing it looks like the new road will be 2-lane (1 each way) rather than the 4-lane I was expecting. Is that so?

Two through lanes each way, Black Dog plus the turn lanes. The 4 lane portion that comprises WV's highway to gridlock narrows to two lanes just after it crosses Hostler Rd as seen in the photo below. The pic is taken from the west looking up toward Keyes Gap. To its credit, WV built the river bridge and the Hostler Rd overpass to accommodate 4 lanes in the vain hope that VA will widen their section of Rt 9 in the future. I think that thought has put that dream to bed in the lifetimes of most viewing this thread now.

[Ricky]

I'm not sure how this intersection is unlike... say... where Halltown Road and rt340 meet up next to the funeral home. There's plenty of visibility to see oncoming traffic far enough away for you to not misjudge their distance and cause and accident.

[charliepff]

It really does not matter since everything will get bottlenecked on the VA side anyhow. Especially when they do the traffic calming project in Hillsboro which includes adding speedbumps.