By Heather Michon
Correspondent
More than 110 Fluvanna residents have been killed or seriously injured in road accidents since 2018.
Move Safely Blue Ridge, an initiative of the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission (TJPCD), would like to see that number down to zero by 2050.
Project lead Gorjan Gjorgjievski presented the draft comprehensive plan summary to the Board of Supervisors at its meeting Wednesday night (April 16).
Gjorgjieveski said their survey had found 110 serious or fatal accidents in Fluvanna between 2020 and 2022. Based on data from accidents dating back to 2018, 74 percent of those accidents occurred on just 11 percent of county roadways.
They found five recurring trouble spots:
Rt. 250 and Oliver Creek Road
South Boston Road and Broken Island Road
Rt. 53 and Ruritan Lake Road
Rt. 53 and Martin Kings Road
Rt. 15 and East River Road
The East River Road intersection was the scene of an accident in late March that killed one man and left three others seriously injured.
For each intersection, there were suggestions on improving safety, ranging from roundabouts to rumble strips. Modern road planners can draw from more than two dozen tools to facilitate safety.
In February, the supervisors approved a resolution to halve road fatalities in Fluvanna by 2045. That, combined with approval of the Move Safely Blue Ridge plan, could help unlock federal funding under Safe Streets for All (SS4A), a part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law of 2021.
A motion to approve the comprehensive plan was not on the agenda, so action was deferred until the supervisors next meeting.
Child abuse prevention month
April is Child Abuse Prevention Month.
Rocky Reed, head of the Child Protective Services Unit for the Fluvanna Department of Social Services, told supervisors that her department had received 644 referrals in 2023-2024. Of those, 144 were accepted.
They conducted 108 assessments, 28 investigations, and had 64 joint investigations with the Fluvanna County Sheriff’s Office. Investigations can often take 60 days or more to complete.
That same year, they managed 18 in-home cases that involved 341 in-home visits, and 10 family support cases, totaling 171 visits.
To learn more about the Department of Social Services, Reed invited everyone to attend the Celebrating Children’s Fair on Saturday, April 26, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Carysbrook Elementary.
Other items
Also in the meeting, supervisors
Approved advertisement of a public hearing to codify biannual real estate tax reassessments;
Approved a waiver for a split precinct in Cunningham District, where about 50 residents are in a different voting district than the remainder of the county;
Amended a special use permit (SUP) regarding a mobile home being used as a caretaker’s residence on Rt. 6 to include a renewable five-year validity term;
Approved a temporary construction easement for the development of the Wawa at Zion Crossroad.
