Northampton Board applies for new intersection at Parson’s Circle intersection

The Northampton Board of Supervisors has applied to VDOT for construction of a new style intersection at the Bayview Circle/Parson’s Circle intersection on Route 13.

The design chosen is the restricted-crossing U-turn intersection or RCUT. The RCUT excludes traffic from crossing directly across Route 13 from either Bayview Circle or Parson’s Circle. Cars looking to cross Route 13 from either will have turn right onto the highway and travel to a newly constructed crossover to complete a U-turn and proceed either along Lankford Highway or turn right onto Route 641.

According to VDOT reports, there have been six traffic crashes within a 200′ radius of the intersection from January 1, 2019 to June 30, 2024. Three were property damage accidents and three involved injuries to twelve total passengers.

“I drive this stretch every day and this is infinitely better than what we currently have, ” said Supervisor John Coker.

The intersection is seeing more traffic since the construction of the new Northampton County Family YMCA. Also, the Tower Hill housing development has seen 35 new houses built since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is not the first time the Board has considered the installation of an RCUT intersection on Route 13. In March of 2023 they decided not to proceed with the installation of this design on Route 13 at the Broadwater Road and El Maguey intersections after Board Chair Betsy Mapp, who represents the areas in question, did not want to proceed. During that conversation, Northampton’s Planning and Zoning Administrator Susan McGhee said VDOT believes these types of intersections could be the future of Route 13.

Mapp once again voiced her concern about this design, saying she failed to see how it would make anything safer.

The Board approved the application for the project on a 4-1 vote with Mapp being the lone nay vote.

“The deadline to apply is August 1, but the application is a long way away from being approved,” said County Administrator Charlie Kolakowski. “And it’s an even longer way away from being built.”

A video demonstrating the RCUT intersection is below: