Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

When will Mil Scott Road get paved? That’s something residents who live in the area would like to know. The topic came up during Prince Edward Supervisor Dr. Odessa Pride’s town hall meeting in September and then once again this past week at the Prince Edward Board of Supervisors meeting. 

The answer both times, given by state and local officials, is that the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) has a limited amount of money set aside for this region. As a result, they have to prioritize roads that get more traffic. 

“Unfortunately at times, we’re fighting for scraps and if we’ve got one road that has 400 trips on it per day and if we’ve got one that has 60, the one with 400 is typically going to win out,” said Prince Edward County Administrator Doug Stanley. He was speaking to board members at the group’s Tuesday, Oct. 8 meeting. 

The group had been talking with VDOT regional engineer Scott Frederick about traffic concerns when Dr. Pride brought up Mil Scott Road. Back at the September town hall meeting, VDOT officials said they could try and do another traffic study on the road, to see if the number of cars traveling on it daily had increased. That’s the simplest way to get a project moved up the list for funding. But as Dr. Pride pointed out on Tuesday, those traffic numbers aren’t going to change much. 

“You’re not gonna have 50 people travel on that road daily, because there’s not that many people on it,” Pride pointed out. In a study, she said, you’ll always come up with 30 people because that’s how many live there. But that doesn’t mean they don’t deserve the help. 

“All of those people are upset and they have been promised things for years and years on this little stretch of road,” Pride said. 

Mil Scott Road ‘always on my mind’ 

Frederick pointed out that the road has been brought up a lot, especially recently, so it stays on his mind. Pride encouraged him that if there is any amount of money left over from some other project, to try and set it aside for that road. 

“These are tax-paying people and I think they deserve some kind of consideration,” Pride said. 

Frederick said he would keep it in mind and see what he could do.