is our Business

while eastbound lanes will take a different route before tying back in.

The western-most segment includes two lanes in each direction, with a raised grass median that will be wide enough for turn lanes to secondary roads.

The project also involves wider shoulders, improved intersections with U.S. 8 and other roads and two truck escape ramps.

Lover’s Leap will look different as well. U.S. 58 will essentially bypass the overlook by cutting off the turn. Visitors will still be able to access the landmark with a turnoff that connects to a parking area and cul-de-sac at the overlook. Officials hope the change will result in a safer site that doesn’t interrupt traffic on U.S. 58.

The actual widening involves straightening U.S. 58 and filling to decrease the grade. Currently the section grades up to 9 percent; once the project is complete they’ll top out at 7.4 percent.

“The big idea here is to straighten it out as much as possible and get the percent grade decreased coming down the mountain so we’re not having such a steep grade, and just make a generally safer road,” Joyce said.

Roughly 60 percent of the 7.4 miles of project consist of solid rock. Widening the road’s twists and turns involves blasting, then hauling the fill to a permanent storage site. Section cuts run as high as 500 feet, with filled areas up to 300 feet deep. Ultimately the project area entails 400 acres.

Branch is also relocating power and telecommunication lines.

A few homes and a business will have to be relocated, Joyce said, “but for the most part they’ve tried to stay away from affecting too many homes with the project.”

The widening project also involves rerouting waterways, including one of the Mayo River’s headwaters.

“It’s a drainage project we slapped a road on top of,” said Handy.

He’s not too far off. Joyce gestured toward an area covered with lengths of multiplate-pipe. Four of the plates are fitted together to make one joint of pipe measuring 84 inches in diameter. Three pipelines will run through a 540-foot-long stream bottom west of Stuart, funneling the creek beneath the planned road and preventing flooding.

For his part, Joyce is grateful the project is keeping him home in Patrick County.

“I love it here,” Joyce said. “My wife and I both grew up here. We’ve both done some traveling and been out and seen other parts. And we both love it here. We have a baby on the way. There’s not a much better place to live. It’s a heck of a place to live, as long as we’ve got work in the area.”

He says Branch seems glad to keep him in his home county.

“I’m kind of centrally located,” Joyce said. “I can be in Greensboro or Winston-Salem or Roanoke or Wytheville — pretty much in the same amount of time.”

Locals know that central location is part of what makes Patrick County such an ideal location.

When the widening of U.S. 58 is complete, the rest of the world is primed to find out, too.

NEW ARARAT, PATRICK COUNTY, VIRGINIA LOVE SIGN

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