Detours ending as road work almost complete on Route 460

Published 3:18 am Tuesday, May 16, 2023

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The detours on Route 460 are going away. Officials from the Virginia Department of Transportation said that work is almost complete on their repair project in Prince Edward County, so the signs and blocked off areas are going away. 

“The (main) work wrapped up Sunday night and the detour only lasted until 6 a.m. (Monday) morning,” said Len Stevens. He works as communications director for VDOT’s Lynchburg district, which includes Prince Edward County. 

“There were some spots that needed repair,” Stevens said of the road. “Sometimes, road repair takes well and sometimes it doesn’t and those spots had to be fixed.” 

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This process and the detours started earlier this month, as VDOT work crews first did some milling before repaving the road. 

Milling is the process where you remove the top layer of asphalt before putting a new one down. The idea is that it both saves time and avoids increasing the height of the road. Originally, work crews were supposed to be finished with that by 6 a.m. Tuesday, May 9. But it took longer than expected. 

While work was going on, residents traveled down Holly Farms Road and then Sayler’s Creek Road to get around the Route 460 road closures. Now that most of the work is done, Stevens said the detour wasn’t needed anymore. 

“They may have to do some pavement marking and things like that, but they can do that without the detour,” Stevens said. “The only way the detour would be necessary again is if we have some unforeseen incident, which we don’t expect.”