Q: Why is the boat ramp closing at Sandy River Reservoir? How long will it be closed?

The boat ramp at Sandy River Reservoir will be temporarily closed through mid-November for a ramp pier replacement project. 

According to Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries Region Two Lands and Facilities Manager Pete Schula, the existing ramp was built in the first half of the 1990s.

“The boat ramp will be closed approximately one to two months for the project,” Schula said. “However, the fishing pier, canoe launch, bank fishing and parking lot will remain open to the public.”

Schula said the project would cost between approximately $35,000-40,000.

Prince Edward Assistant County Administrator Sarah Elam Puckett said the county was excited about the replacement, but also wanted to make sure that the county’s ardent boat fishermen knew that the boat access was closed at this time.

She said the other access is at Briery Creek Lake.

According to a press release, Briery Creek Lake is an 845-acre lake that is owned by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and is within the Briery Creek Wildlife Management Area. 

Briery Creek Lake can be reached from Farmville by taking U.S. 15 south approximately seven miles to either Briery Lake Road or Landing Road.

“It doesn’t impact the ramp,” County Administrator Wade Bartlett said. “It’s a pier or dock or whatever you want to call the thing next to the ramp that’s being replaced.”

He said the ramp had “been out there a long time just got older and, you know, made out of wood and wood doesn’t last forever.”

According to a press release, the pedestrian fishing pier, canoe launch, parking lot and bank fishing access at Sandy River Reservoir will remain open.

To access the Sandy River Reservoir, travel east on U.S. Route 460 from Farmville, turn south on route 640, take the first left on route 792 and follow this road straight to the parking lot.

“For more information on fishing at Sandy River Reservoir or Briery Creek Lake, please contact the Virginia’s Heartland Regional Visitor Center at (434) 392-1482 or the website of the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries at www.dgif.virginia.gov,” officials said in the release.