“How many more people have got to die?”
Galen Gilbert asked board members.
The need for a stoplight at the intersection of U.S. 58, Spring Road, and South Mayo Drive in the Patrick Springs area was highlighted at a recent Patrick County Board of Supervisors meeting, and the board seemed to agree that one is needed.
Galen Gilbert, one of the speakers to address the board, said there were two more wrecks at the intersection in early March.
“The last one was severe enough that the patient was airlifted to Baptist Hospital,” he said.
Gilbert said board member Clayton Kendrick, of the Mayo River District, previously experienced the loss of a family member after a collision at the intersection.
Kendrick’s aunt, Louise Deal, was killed when her vehicle and an oncoming vehicle collided.
“What made it really bad too was that it was in seeing distance of her daughter,” Kendrick said, adding that Deal’s “daughter went out and saw it all. it’s just terrible.”
Kendrick said at least two other people have died in motor vehicle crashes there, “and every time you turn around” there are wrecks in the general area.
“How many more people have got to die before we get something done down there,” Gilbert asked. “That is the worst intersection in the county, and before you know it there’s cars there on top of you, people pulling out. I know Wal-Mart bought their stoplight, our taxpayers should buy our stoplight. We need one down there bad.”
Gilbert said he doesn’t know how many times a helicopter has flown in to transport those involved in a wreck at that intersection.
“I’ve seen wrecks where they’ve hit and went all the way up to when it was Town & Country and knocked a post out from under the porches up there,” Gilbert added and noted that some drivers say there’s not enough sight distance at the intersection.
“Well, they put a flashing light at Walmart to warn them that the light’s getting ready to change, so what’s the problem down there,” he said.
Gilbert said he’s thankful his mother was never involved in an accident there before she passed. “She would go out of her way to go other places to get on 58 because it’s so bad down there.”
He also asked the board to pressure the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) to install a stoplight there.
Steve Marshall, of the Blue Ridge District, asked if the board could pass a resolution or something similar stating the board agrees. The resolution could potentially be considered at the next board meeting.
Although “it’s just a formality, but at least it shows our support for the idea of getting this done,” he said.
Following the meeting, Kendrick said the board had been trying to get a stoplight in the area, even before he got on the board.
“Probably 10 to 12 years, maybe even longer than that. Every time they come up with something” VDOT says “the traffic count’s not high enough or you can’t stop traffic on 58,” Kendrick said.
“I even asked them one time if you couldn’t stop traffic on 58 why Walmart had a light,” he said, adding he was told that the company purchased the stoplight.
Kendrick said VDOT resident engineer Lisa Price-Hughes is supposed to attend the April 8 supervisor meeting.
“I’ll ask her again,” he said.
