AMHERST, Va. – A $3 million road change is coming to Amherst County.
Leaders with the Smart Scale program are giving the Virginia Department of Transportation money to fix U.S. 29 and Route 151 on Patrick Henry Highway.
In the last five years, VDOT says, there have been more than 20 crashes and injuries in the crossover lane, as well as one death.
To quickly fix the problem VDOT temporarily installed flashing beams to warn incoming traffic of cars sitting in the lane.
Now state leaders say it's time to make a safe, permanent decision: close the lane.
"So if you wanted to go, for example, coming out of 151 onto 29, you want to go north to Charlottesville that you'd actually go further down south and come back. So you aren't making that direct crossover over onto 29," Paula Jones, Lynchburg District's communications manager, said.
VDOT says construction is expected to begin in a few years.