Henrico supervisors authorize land-exchange, road improvements, sidewalk construction

During its meeting Nov. 10, Henrico’s Board of Supervisors agreed to trade 21.29 acres of land near Winfrey Road near the River Mill subdivision to the neighborhood’s developer, HHHunt, in exchange for 8.7 acres of adjacent land.

Earlier this year, the county reached agreement to buy two parcels totaling about 35 acres in the area for the future construction of an elementary school.

The 21 acres Henrico is trading contain floodplains and electric transmission lines, devaluing it to the point that a swap for HHHunt’s 8.7 acres matched up financially, according to Charles Marston, the acting director of Henrico’s Real Property division.

Also at its meeting, the board voted to authorize VDOT to make long-awaited enhancements to the intersection of Parham Road and Patterson Avenue, at which it will add double left-turn lanes and a right-turn lane in both directions on Patterson and on northbound Parham.

The $14-million project also will include the closure of the median at Wetherly Drive (in order to allow more traffic to use the southbound left-turn lane); the replacement and updating of the traffic signal; the addition of a sidewalk along Parham on the east side south of Patterson and on the west side north of Patterson; the addition of crosswalks in all directions at the intersection.

Additionally, supervisors voted to:

• provide authority for VDOT to complete a rehabilitation of the Skipwith Road bridge over I-64;

• fund the construction of 6,000 feet of sidewalk along Ridgefield Parkway, between Pump Road and Falconbridge Drive, at a cost of $776,030. It’s the first phase of the Ridgefield Parkway sidewalk project and is expected to begin in February and be completed within three months.