PRINCE EDWARD – County supervisors had hoped to cut the ribbon and open the new Route 786 this Saturday, but apparently the final inspection is not the last one and there are still more hurdles to go.

When the road will open is still to be determined.

The new Route 786, an alternate for Route 628 that flows through the County's school complex, is nearing completion after months of work. With the site work being done by Haymes Brothers, the project factors the use of state revenue sharing funds. County Administrator Wade Bartlett presented an update at the November Board of Supervisors meeting.

“What I can tell you right now is they have put the top coat on, they're marking and striping the road as we speak and all the work has been done out there except for a few little odds and ends,” Bartlett said.

The project must first meet VDOT standards and, in what could take added time, be accepted into the state road system.

“We're still waiting to hear the results of the walkthrough and then, even if the walkthrough's done and they say everything's hunky-dory and all the requirements have been met, there's bureaucracy that you have to go through to get it accepted into the VDOT system. And we're working through that also,” Bartlett explained this week.

Board members discussed the project at their November meeting and had looked to a possible Saturday opening. County supervisors approved a resolution (which states that the new road meets VDOT's secondary road requirements) as part of the process to turn over the new road. The board (with Farmville Supervisor Pattie Cooper-Jones opposing) approved the resolution and authorized the board chairman and/or county administrator to sign the necessary documents from VDOT.

“We fully expect that everything will be done to VDOT's standards and VDOT will say the road is complete,” Bartlett told The Herald. “That's one step…It's another step then for VDOT to accept it.”