City Council - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon and welcome. At this time, we'll call the Suffach City Council work session to order. Uh we have one topic this afternoon. Uh staff will provide an update on the active roadway projects and improvements in the city. Mr. manager, mayor, vice mayor, members of council, uh, director of public works, Greg Greg Benton, is going to walk you through some active roadway projects, introduce you to one that's about to kick off, and I think he'll be doing it via the public works website. And so, we want to make sure the public uh, is aware of this tool. It has a lot of great information on our CIP projects as well as videos. And so, uh, good afternoon, Greg.

All right. Thank you, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council, Mr. Manager. Uh great introduction by the uh city manager. So we will go ahead and get started. These are the four projects that we will be reviewing today. The top three are currently active projects and the last one, Pitchkettle Road Realignment, is due to start next month, February. So I'll give a brief overview and then follow up with a brief video that can be found on our website for each of the projects. And uh in these videos, the intent is to describe the scope to the public as well as any detours or impacts that the citizens need to be aware of due to the construction that is ongoing. All right. So you'll see here this is our public facing website. You will navigate to residents and then to the right is public works. Go down a few and you'll see capital improvement projects. And this is where on the left is a list of all of our projects. So I will go go ahead and begin. Nansman Beman's mill bridge which is under construction. The existing bridge constructed in 1920 of cast inplace concrete with an integral dam no longer meets current VOTE roadway standards. A replacement structure is needed to separate the bridge from the dam, provide adequate width for modern traffic demands, and incorporate a sidewalk to improve safety and accessibility. We'll now play the video.

Nansman Parkway over Beamman's Mil Pond bridge replacement. Work is underway to replace the structurally deficient 1920 concrete bridge. The new wider bridge will include sidewalks. Nmon Parkway is currently closed to traffic with a detour in place. Completion is anticipated in August 2026 and the total estimated cost is $4.5 million. For more information about all public works capital improvement projects, please visit the city website at suffukva. [music] us.

Our next project is Shoulder Hill Road, Route 17, Bridge Road Improvements. The purpose of the project is to improve traffic operations and safety at the intersection of Route 17 and Sher Hill Road. Significant residential and commercial growth has increased traffic volumes and turning movements resulting in peak hour delays and vehicle cues extending into the through lanes of Route 17, creating safety concerns. The project is needed to address existing and projected traffic demand, improve intersection capacity and traffic flow, reduce vehicle idle times affecting air quality, and provide pedestrian and bicycle accommodations. The need for the improvements is identified in the city's comprehensive plan and the capital improvement plan. We'll now play the video.

This is a project overview for the Shoulders Hill Bridge Road improvement project. Bridge Road Route 17 will be widened from four lanes to six, and Shoulders Hill Road will grow from two lanes to four. To help the traffic move more smoothly, the project adds new turn lanes, including triple left turn lanes from northbound Bridge Road onto Shoulders Hill Road, a free flow right turn from northbound Shoulders Hill onto Bridge Road, plus upgraded right and left turn lanes on both Bridge Road and Shoulders Hill Road. Knots Neck Road will also get a shared through and turn lane. In addition to road upgrades, we are also upgrading traffic signals, improving storm water systems, adding curb and gutter, building a raised median, and installing new street lights. Plus, a 10-ft wide multi-use path will give pedestrians plenty of room to walk, run, or bike safely. The total estimated cost is $36 million. We anticipate finishing these improvements by summer of this year. For more information about this project and all public works projects, please visit the city website at suffukva. us.

Our third project that is currently under construction that we'll be talking about today is a Kittinden Road realignment. The intersection currently experiences significant peak hour delays which are expected to worsen with projected traffic growth. A pronounced grade differential across Route 17 contributes to safety concerns and additional delay as vehicles navigate the elevation change. The proposed improvements will address anticipated increases in traffic volumes on both Route 17 and Kittinden Road, enhance overall safety, and reduce vehicle idle times, again resulting in air quality benefits. The project will also include pedestrian accommodations. These intersection improvements are critical to maintaining the efficiency of the transportation network and improving overall intersection functionality. Video, please. Kittinden road intersection realignment. This project realign the intersection of Kittinden Road, Bridge Road, and Clubhouse Drive into a four-way signalized intersection. It includes a free flow right turn from Kittinden Road onto Bridge Road. Dual left turns from Bridge Road onto Kittinden Road and a right turn lane from Bridge Road onto Kittinden Road. Additional work includes drainage, new BMP, and new sidewalks. During construction, drivers can expect periodic lane closures and flagging operations on Bridge Road and Kittinden Road. The total estimated cost is $13 million.

For more information about all public works capital improvement projects, please visit the city website at suffukva. us.

Our final project which is Pitchkettle Road realignment. This project is due to start construction next month in February. The project will improve the horizontal alignment along Pitch Kettle Road, provide pedestrian accommodations on both sides of the roadway and enhance overall corridor safety through increased visibility, better delineated roadways with curb and gutter and expanded clear zones adjacent to travel lanes. The project will also include improvements at the existing intersection consisting of an exclusive southbound right turn lane on Constance Road to improve traffic flow, reduce backups, and enhance safety at the railroad crossing as well as a dedicated southbound left turn lane and right turn lane onto Pitch Kettle Road. We'll play the final video.

Pitch Kettle Road realignment [music] project. The corridor from the Pitch Kettle Road bridge at Lake Meade to West Constance Road is being realigned to improve movement for vehicles and pedestrians. The project includes a 5- foot wide concrete walkway on the west side, a 10-ft wide path on the east side, dedicated [music] left turn lanes into the Boston neighborhood, drainage upgrades, and a safer railroad crossing at Constance Road. During construction, drivers can expect periodic lane closures and flagging [music] operations as crews build the new roadway alignment. Once traffic is shifted onto the new alignment, the northbound lane on Pitch Kettle Road will be closed for the construction of new center medians and left turn [music] lanes with a signed detour along West Washington Street, Holland Road, and Route 58. Toward the end of the project, [music] Constance Road will be temporarily closed so work can be completed at the railroad crossing. During this time, a detour will be provided along West Washington Street and Broad Street. Construction is expected to begin in February 2026 and be completed in late 2027. The total estimated cost is 14.4 million. For more information about all public works capital improvement projects, please visit the city website at suffachva. us. I'd like to thank uh Wayne Joan and Wayne Jones and public works as well as communication department for helping us assemble these videos for the public uh to be there for use throughout uh time. So with that, that concludes my brief. Any questions?

Greg, thank you for your presentation. Council questions or comments? Council member Recctor.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor and Greg, thank you for that presentation. Um, I'm really excited about the Pitchkett Road uh improvements. Um, I've lived in that neighborhood the entire time that I've been in Suffach and some of the things that I have seen people do to get around the traffic when it stopped for a train um would literally just curl your hair. Um, so I I'm I'm excited about that. And then the other thing is the Nansen uh Parkway Bridge. I know that we've done three or four bridges all around the city. Do we have a you know quote ne next one up on the hit parade?

Actually um Pitman Town Road. Um that one is um open currently right now. It just opened up um just got certified. So that one's open north closer to the North Carolina border. And then that mainly leaves us three more bridges that actually have wood decks to them uh for us to do. We have a plan to make sure we get those last three bridges funded so that we can um have all of our bridges upgraded and meet VOTE standards.

Thank you for that council. Any other questions or comments? Um if not, it's great presentation. I mean for projects once again coming to fruition. We've got a lot going on this year that we're going to be finishing. Uh, two in particular kind of near and dear to my heart is the theritten road alignment. Seems like I've been working on that for like 10 years and that's finally going to get done. And shoulders hill and 17. I went and checked that out last Sunday just to get an idea where we were. Tried the new little merge lane. Wasn't much traffic Sunday morning, but still you can kind of visualize uh what it's going to look like. And of course that's so much of that had to do with moving infrastructure and dealing with everybody to make that happen. That along with the additional lanes on 17 and like I said the kittinen road alignment will help with that traffic flow also because that's very I don't know if you ever tried to navigate it or not but it allow for a lot much [clears throat] smoother traffic flow on both sides especially coming out of Cedar Point. I know those residents are going to like the addition also. So once again thank you. Keep up the good work. We got plenty to do.

That concludes our work session. We do have a need for a closed meeting this afternoon. Madam clerk, will you please present the motion for consideration

pursuant to Virginia Code section 2.2-3711A1, the discussion, consideration or interviews of prospective candidates for appointment and the assignment, appointment and performance of specific public officers or appointees of the city. Specifically, the appointments is shown in the attached list for vacancies or term expirations for the downtown advisory committee, the early childhood development commission, the economic development authority of the city of Suffukk, the human services advisory board, the local board of building code appeals, the parks and recreation advisory commission, the planning council, the Toddwater Youth Services Commission, the wetlands board, and the appointment of the city manager.

Council, a motion has been presented for your consideration. Council member Recctor. So moved. Got a motion for approval. Council member Recctor. Council member Butler Barlo. Second. Second from Council Member Butler Barlo. Is there any discussion in the motion? Hearing none. Council members, prepare to vote. Please cast your vote. Madame clerk, kindly record the vote. The motion is approved by a vote of 8 to zero. This meeting stands adjourned and we will reconvene at 6 pm.