Route 122 Realignment In Bedford County On Course

By Justin Faulconer, Lynchburg News & Advance
Published: January 29, 2008

A road realignment project along Virginia 122 in Moneta that Bedford County officials believe will improve traffic en route to Smith Mountain Lake continued to move forward Monday.

The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to proceed with relocating the intersection of Diamond Hill Road, shortly north of the Hales Ford Bridge.

The Virginia Department of Transportation plans to redesign the Diamond Hill entrance so it can line up with Hendricks Store Road. A new traffic light would be built between the two roads and the current entrance onto Diamond Hill Road would be

abandoned.

The Moneta Commons, a new commercial center, would be located at the new intersection, but county officials said the realignment plan was in the making before the center came along.

“This is basically something that has been in the mill for a couple of years,” said Chuck Neudorfer, who serves as the board’s Moneta supervisor. “The project needs to move forward.”

At a VDOT public hearing in November, several residents said the county should get rid of the existing stoplight along Virginia 122 at the current Diamond Hill Road intersection once the new entrance is completed.

Bedford County Administrator Kathleen Guzi said that when the project is finished, VDOT would do a traffic study to see if both lights are necessary.

That stretch along Virginia 122 has became a hot spot for several planned mixed residential and commercial

neighborhoods and entertainment venues.

Last year, the board approved Sweetwater Amphitheater - a 7,000-seat outdoor venue planned for Virginia 122 close to Diamond Hill Road - and Sunset Cay, a golf course community with thousands of homes on Hendricks Store Road.

In other news from Monday’s meeting:

• The board unanimously said yes to a special-use permit for Conny Oil, Inc. in Roanoke to build a 3,000-square-foot convenience store with gas pumps in Hardy along the north side of Virginia 634 across from the Feather Place intersection. It would be one of the first such businesses in that part of the county, according to residents who told supervisors Monday that they are in favor of it.

“The store is more than a convenience,” said Dale Wheeler, the supervisor who represents the Hardy area. “It is an economic opportunity for Bedford County.”

• Fred Fralick, the chairman of the Bedford County Planning Commission, was reappointed as the District 4 commissioner. The board also voted to change the county bylaws so that from now on commissioners’ and their district supervisors’ terms run parallel with one another.