Town Council votes to close Route 54 median crossing

ROSLYN RYAN

Richmond Suburban News

Craig Norris knew there was a problem when the tow truck driver started laughing at him.

Norris had just been involved in a vehicle accident as he was trying to turn left from Route 54—locally known as England Road— into the Ashland Hanover Shopping Center.

As it turns out, Norris is one of dozens of motorists who have been involved in a crash at that exact spot, a crossing so well-known for accidents that even the responding officers told him not to feel too bad about the incident.

Norris was one of several people who addressed the Ashland Town Council on Feb. 21, urging them to permanently close the Route 54 median crossing into the shopping center.

After a brief discussion, the council voted unanimously to do just that.

The vote finally put to rest an issue that has come before the council several times in recent months as officials and town staff worked to find a solution that would protect motorists without negatively impacting businesses located in the shopping center.

The problem was first brought to the council’s attention in early 2022, when Ashland Police Department officials noted that a high number of accidents were being recorded at the crossing.

Part of the issue, officials determined, was that many drivers trying to cross over into the shopping center did not see that there is a third lane of traffic coming at them from the right. This led to numerous crashes in which motorists trying to cross England Road were hit on the passenger side.

“The only way to cross that intersection is to creep, and creep and creep,” Nor- ris said, noting that the third lane of traffic is often blocked by other vehicles.

In response to the report from Ashland police, which noted a total of 25 accidents at the crossing between 2018 and 2022, staff members with the town’s Public Works Department began doing field reviews of the crossing and making suggestions for how better to alert motorists of the potential danger.

They added striping and made signage changes, and even considered closing the crossing during the high traffic volume hours of the day.

As Ashland’s director of public works Mike Jennings pointed out during his presentation to the council last week, England Road sees around 23,000 vehicle trips per day, making it the town’s busiest roadway after Interstate 95.

Please see COUNCIL, Page 23

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