Board approves FY25–30 Secondary Six‑Year Road Plan and Rural Rustic designations

The Nelson County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the FY25–30 Secondary Six‑Year Road Plan and the FY24/25 construction priority list during its May 14 meeting, and separately adopted the Rural Rustic design standard for a set of unpaved routes.

Robert Brown of the Virginia Department of Transportation reviewed estimated FY25 funding for secondary roads: District Unpaved Road funding was estimated at $671,748 and Telefee funding at about $36,186 for FY25. VDOT identified active projects and priorities including Cow Hollow Road (Rte. 674), Davis Creek Road (Rte. 623), Hunting Lodge Road (Rte. 646), Jenny’s Creek Road (Rte. 674), and a 1.5‑mile section of Wheelers Cove Road (Rte. 640). A separate rural‑rustic draft priority list included Spring Valley Road (Rte. 634), North Fork Road (Rte. 687) and others.

Supervisor Rutherford asked for a list of remaining unpaved miles; Brown estimated roughly 120–130 miles of unpaved roads remain countywide and noted that as roads are hard‑surfaced, the county’s Unpaved Road allocation decreases. The Board asked VDOT about incident response and was advised the VDOT call center (1‑800‑367‑ROAD) is the route for response requests and law enforcement or the incident commander typically initiates VDOT assistance for traffic control.

The Board adopted Resolution R2024‑38 (approving the six‑year plan and priority list) and Resolution R2024‑39 (applying the Rural Rustic standard to a specified set of routes) by roll‑call votes of 5–0.

What’s next: VDOT will proceed with the projects per the adopted priorities and the County and VDOT will coordinate on rural rustic implementation and any required right‑of‑way or environmental considerations.