State to require more outlets instead of maze of new roads

Developers, local government officials and others got their first look Tuesday at new rules that are poised to transform how neighborhoods are laid out in Virginia.

“How many of you have heard that cul-de-sacs will not be allowed under these regulations? That is not the case,” said Rob Hofrichter, assistant division administrator for maintenance with the state transportation department. “There probably will be fewer of them, but cul-de-sacs will be allowed.”

Hofrichter and other state transportation officials outlined the new rules Tuesday at Albemarle County’s Fifth Street office building. The new regulations, they said, are intended to improve the efficiency of Virginia’s transportation network, reduce storm-water runoff and add more options for pedestrians.

The regulations — which go into effect July 1 — essentially require new neighborhoods to have more connections to major roadways and adjacent developments.

They call for greater pedestrian accommodations, such as sidewalks and trails. And they require the development’s streets to serve a public benefit.

If a development does not meet the new rules, the Virginia Department of Transportation will not take over maintenance of the project’s roads, instead leaving that job to a homeowners association or other entity.

For decades, VDOT accepted new streets into its permanent maintenance system without considering whether the roads served a benefit to the overall public. Now, however, VDOT is faced with worsening congestion and dwindling state and federal transportation funding. As a result, the state is basically becoming choosier about which streets it will maintain at taxpayer expense.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine proposed in 2007 to overhaul how the state accepts new roads into its permanent maintenance system. His initiative won the unanimous endorsement of the General Assembly. And the Commonwealth Transportation Board approved the final set of regulations in February.

Ken King, VDOT’s southwestern regional operations director, showed an aerial photograph of a high school near Salem to illustrate the issue. Several houses sit a quarter-mile behind the school.

Yet the neighborhood lacks road or pedestrian connections, so someone living in that neighborhood would have to take a circuitous, 2.5-mile trip to the school.

King added that neighborhoods with more road connections allow emergency vehicles to respond more quickly

“It’s important to remember that the shortest distance between two points has been — and always will be — a straight line,” he said.

The development industry met the new regulations with a bit of skepticism, but not outright opposition.

Pete Bradshaw, a Charlottesville-based urban planner who has been working on the sizable Spring Creek development in Zion Crossroads, said he thinks the state is trying to accomplish a worthy goal, but he is waiting to see how it works out in practice. “We’ll see once the rubber hits the road,” he said.

Bradshaw said he is concerned about the added cost of the new regulations. Adding extra road and pedestrian connections, he said, likely will be expensive, particularly because developers are not being allowed to increase density to help cover the cost.