Studies

Ashland - I-95/Route 54 Interstate Access Report Study

Project at a Glance

Locality
Ashland

District
Richmond

Contact
Todd Scheid
804-524-6000

Study Details

Introduction & Purpose -

The purpose of this study is to provide a cohesive suite of improvements that address the study needs within the study area and identify competitive funding applications that meet readiness requirements. The following sections describe the project’s needs.

I-95 at Route 54 -

The study segments of Interstate 95 (I-95) and England Street (Route 54) are in the Town of Ashland and Hanover County in Virginia. I-95 serves as a primary travel route for traffic traveling to/from the north and south along the east coast of the United States. Route 54 is the primary corridor into the Town of Ashland from I-95. The study area is shown in Figure 1. The issues identified along the transportation network on I95 and Route 54 within the study area include the following:

Existing capacity and safety issues at the I-95 at Route 54 Partial Cloverleaf interchange (between milepost 91.8 and 92.2) and concerns regarding the additional traffic that will be generated from planned developments and overall growth in the area, which will potentially cause the interchange to be overcapacity causing even more operational and safety issues. The I-95/Route 54 Interchange Improvement Screening Study, prepared for Hanover County and the Town of Ashland by Kimley Horn, November 2015, projected the interchange to operate beyond capacity by 2025.
Existing safety and operational issues on the study section of Route 54, which may worsen with future traffic growth from planned and overall growth as well. The same study, I-95/Route 54 Interchange Improvement Screening Study, identified an injury crash rate on this section of Route 54 that was 50 percent higher than the statewide average at that time and identified several intersection movements expected to perform at LOS E or F in future (2040) conditions.

This framework document outlines the scope of work and associated assumptions for the I-95 at Route 54 Study. The assumptions used in this framework document align with the standards and guidance from the VDOT Traffic Operations and Safety Analysis Manual (TOSAM) Version 2.0.

Figure 1: Study Area Map

Project Study Area and Data Collection

The study area for this project includes the following intersections and interchanges of which turning movement counts (TMCs) and directional pneumatic tube counts will be collected on a weekday. The TMCs will be collected from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM, and the tube counts will be collected for a period of 72 hours. Figure 2 and Figure 3 present the data collection plan for the corridor, which is as follows:

The 12-hour TMCs at intersections for each study corridor are as follows:

Route 54 Corridor -

1. Route 54 at Route 1 (Washington Highway)

2. Route 54 at Cottage Green Drive

3. Route 54 at Hill Carter Parkway

4. Route 54 at North Carter Road

5. Route 54 at I-95 SB On/Off-Ramps

6. Route 54 at Telcourt Road

7. Route 54 at Mount Hermon Road/Frances Road

8. Route 54 at Woodside Lane (no data will be collected for Providence Church Road)

Route 30 Corridor -

1. I-95 SB Off-Ramp at Route 30

I-95 at Lewistown Road Interchange -

1. Lewistown Road at I-95 SB On/Off-Ramps

2. Lewistown Road at I-95 NB On-ramp

3. Lewistown Road at I-95 Off-ramp/Travel Center

The data collection tube count locations for each study corridor are as follows:

I-95 Corridor -

1. I-95 at Route 54 Interchange:

a. I-95 SB Off-ramp right-turn lane

b. I-95 SB On-ramp right-turn lane

c. I-95 NB Off-ramp to Route 54 EB

d. I-95 NB Off-ramp loop to Route 54 WB

e. Route 54 EB to I-95 NB On-ramp

f. Route 54 WB to I-95 NB On-ramp

2. I-95 at Route 30:

a. I-95 SB Off-ramp to Kings Dominion parking

b. On-ramp loop to I-95 SB from Route 30 WB

c. I-95 SB On-ramp from Kings Dominion parking

d. I-95 SB On-ramp from Route 30 EB

e. I-95 NB Off-ramp to Route 30 WB

f. I-95 NB Off-ramp to Route 30 EB

g. I-95 NB On-ramp from Route 30 WB

h. I-95 NB On-ramp from Route 30 EB

i. Route 30 EB (east of the interchange)

j. Route 30 WB (east of the interchange)

JMT will inventory existing sidewalk, crosswalk, and bus stop locations. JMT will coordinate with the local transit operator and provide existing information regarding transit ridership, stop locations, and frequency of service for the study. In addition, any planned route additions or modifications will be provided to the study team. This data will be used to guide the development of pedestrian, bicycle, and transit recommendations along the arterial roadway network.

Figure 2: Data Collection Map - Northern End

Figure 3: Data Collection Map - Southern End

Traffic Forecasting

JMT will use existing count data, VDOT historic traffic count data, and RRTPO Regional Travel Demand Model (TDM) to develop traffic growth rates. In addition, JMT will request growth rates and traffic data information available on VDOT Statewide Planning System (SPS) for the study corridors from VDOT’s project manager to verify the traffic growth projections. The forecasted traffic volumes will be submitted to the SWG for review prior to any analysis being performed.

VDOT, the Town of Ashland, and Hanover County will provide information related to known potential developments impacting traffic within the study area. JMT will review the TDM to determine if the known developments are captured in the regional model.

Safety Review and Analysis

Within the study area, I-95 and Route 54 contain ranked segments of potential for safety improvements (PSI) within the Richmond District based on 2016-2020 and 2017-2021 crash databases. Additionally, Route 54 contains a PSI intersection. The PSI list identifies segments or intersections that have experienced more crashes than what is predicted for that site based on safety performance functions, and ranks those sites based on that differential. Note that PSI ranks for segments and intersections were obtained from the 2016-2020 and the 2017-2021 PSI databases, since the latter only includes VDOT maintained segments and intersections. The PSI locations will serve to help prioritize where to focus safety improvements because they have the highest potential to improve safety; however, a detailed safety analysis will be conducted within the entire study area using five-year historical crash data, downloaded from VDOT’s PowerBI crash database, to compare to the PSI rankings and identify hot spots, contributing factors, and countermeasures to address and prioritize safety needs. The historical intersection crash analysis results will be compared with the PSI ranked intersections as the PSI rank indicates a higher prioritization. Figure 4 and Figure 5 summarize the PSI segments and intersections within the study area, which include the following:

Segments -

Route 54 from US 1 to Cottage Green Drive (District Rank 126) – Source: 2016-2020 Top Potential Safety Improvements database (Figure 4)
Route 54 from Cottage Green Drive to Carter Road (District Rank 109) – Source: 2016-2020 Top Potential Safety Improvements database (Figure 4)
Route 54 from Telcourt Road to Providence Church Road (District Rank 663) – Source: 2016-2020 Top Potential Safety Improvements database (Figure 4)
Route 30 from the I-95 SB off ramp to International Street (District Rank 92) – Source: PSI Top 100 2017-2021 database (Figure 5)

Intersections -

US 1 at Route 54 (District Rank 175) – Source: 2016-2020 Top Potential Safety Improvements database layer (Figure 4)

VDOT Pedestrian Safety Action Plan (PSAP) segments within the study area are shown in Figure 6, Source: Pedestrian Safety Action Plan (PSAP) 3.0 database and include:

Route 54 from Route 1 to West of Woodside Lane (Statewide Top 1% Corridors)
US 1 throughout the intersection with Route 54 (Statewide Top 1% Corridors)
Cottage Green Drive from Route 54 to Junction Drive (District Top 1% Segments)

JMT will conduct a review of the most recent five years of available crash data, assumed to be 2018-2022. The crash review will include the development of intersection crash summaries and the identification of crash patterns. JMT will review pedestrian crashes to determine what proportion of crashes are related to pedestrians and bicyclists along Route 54. Density heat maps along I-95 will also be created to visualize the crash patterns within the study area.

Figure 4: PSI Segments/Intersections Summary Map (2016-2020)

Figure 5: PSI Segments/Intersections Summary Map (2017-2021)

JMT will use available Crash Modification Factors (CMFs) to compare the safety impacts of potential improvements during the screening process to identify the projected reductions in crashes. If reliable CMFs are not available to analyze certain improvement types, JMT will use a conflict point summary or a qualitative analysis to determine the projected impact of those improvements on safety. The Highway Safety Manual (HSM) spreadsheets and ISATe (Enhanced Interchange Safety Analysis Tool) will not be used to evaluate safety conditions for this study.

Figure 6: PSAP Segments/Intersections Summary Map

Study Schedule

Item	Estimated Completion
Data Collection	Completed
First Public Outreach	September 2023
Existing condition memorandum and presenting to SWG	October 2023
Travel Demand Forecasting	October 2023
Stage 1 – iCAP Analysis and Alternative Screening	November 2023
Stage 1 – Concept Development and Cost Estimate	November 2023
Stage 2 – Alternative Analyses (Opening and Design Year) *	January 2024
Second Public Outreach	February 2024
Stage 2 – Concept and Detailed Cost Estimate for Preferred Alternative	March 2024
Draft Report	August 2024
*Final Report*	*December 2024*

Page last modified: Oct. 10, 2023