VDOT: late-winter savings let crews accelerate road patching; Taylor Hollow work planned

The Virginia Department of Transportation told the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors on May 11 that a heavy winter left more maintenance money available late in the fiscal year, allowing crews to accelerate patching, pipe work and gravel-hauling across the county.

David Clark, the VDOT representative, said crews have focused on patching and maintenance rather than construction so far this season and that a construction project for Taylor Hollow is expected later this summer. “We have a little bit more maintenance money this end of the fiscal year, than we, often do have,” Clark said during the board meeting.

Why it matters: many residents raised specific road concerns during the meeting; VDOT’s update and answers provide a near-term timeline for repairs on local roads that affect daily commutes and rural access.

Clark listed recent and planned work: patching in the northern half of the county including Woodland Hills, Nellie's Cave and Happy Hollow; work on Sweeny Road; repairs on Crab Creek Road in the southern half; and additional work on Meadow Creek, Nollie, Sydney Church, Piney Woods and Indian Valley. He also said crews cleaned a major pipe across Route 8 at Camp Kerrey’s Brook Road and are working on downstream entrance pipe replacements near Catawba Road.

On Route 11 (Radford Road) Clark described a depression that required milling and a covering repair, saying it resembled the start of a pipe failure rather than a typical pothole. He also said a pipe replacement occurred near Walton and Catawba Road and that gravel roads are being refreshed with hauled stone now that the season permits.

Clark acknowledged long-running challenges on low-lying roads that follow creeks. “Short of a construction project ... Dry Run will just have to be patched together as we can, just like most gravel roads,” he said, noting several previous pipe installations and ongoing clogging issues.

Board members asked about local trouble spots. Supervisor Graskey said she’d noticed “pretty significant potholes” along Merrimack and near a new development; Clark replied that crews had patched one area recently but more spots might appear. Clark said crews would target the worst spots in the Deercroft neighborhood, specifically naming Falcon Ridge as likely needing a near–edge-to-edge overlay and estimating “about over a $100,000” of patching in that neighborhood (approximate figure provided by staff).

Clark also reminded the board that the county’s six‑year plan had been subject to a recent public hearing and that staff will prepare a resolution for the first June meeting based on any final changes.

What’s next: Clark said major construction bids for several projects are not yet out but that the public can expect patching and drainage work through the summer and a Taylor Hollow construction phase later in the season.