Henrico County is a large, steadily growing community bordering the major capital city of Richmond, Virginia. With a variety of existing attractions and plenty of new development in progress, the county identified an extension of Woodman Road as one opportunity to improve and optimize its traffic and transportation systems to accommodate changing patterns. As a strongly established project team, Henrico partnered with Clark Nexsen’s transportation design experts to develop an efficient design solution for the extension and associated intersection that emphasizes connectivity and adaptability. *
The extension of Woodman Road and the creation of a new roundabout has improved the flow of traffic in the area. The new connection has provided easy, traversable access to the nearby parks, residential developments, elementary school, and retail and restaurants on the Route 1/Brook Road corridor. Through initial feasibility studies in the preliminary design phase, the team determined that converting the proposed intersection into a single-lane roundabout would be the best option based on several components including safety, traffic operations, property impacts, and costs. To accommodate future expansion, this single lane roundabout can also be converted into a two-lane configuration, if the need presents itself. In addition to the roundabout, a shared-use path with pedestrian and bike access was also incorporated, extending multi-modal access for the surrounding area.
Due to the low-lying topography of the site, environmental analysis concluded the need for an efficient stormwater management system. The team was able to minimize environmental impacts by using level spreader outfalls near the intersection, dissipating the flow of water as it exits the culvert.
During the design process, right-of-way acquisition presented several challenges. The segments of roadway Henrico sought to develop came with limitations due to a previously established connection made by VDOT some 50 years ago. Since this available right-of-way did not line up with the proposed alignment, our team’s process required adaptation to strategically maximize what was already acquired and available.
*The Clark Nexsen team is responsible for the complete design of the intersection at Woodman Road and Greenwood Road; Clark Nexsen also performed preliminary design and environmental documentation for the extension, which was completed by developer HH Hunt.
Awards
APWA Mid-Atlantic Chapter Award, 2022
