Lynchburg officials say engineers have hit the ground running to redesign the city’s most congested intersection, trying to keep pace as inflation raises construction costs and urban development increases traffic.
The project will divide U.S. 501 into a split pair of northbound and southbound roads at its intersection with U.S. 221. The proposed design will increase capacity and reduce delays by spreading traffic across two intersections instead of concentrating it at the current single one, said city engineer Lee Newland.
The design process, led by consulting engineering firm McCormick Taylor Inc., has been a long time coming, Newland said. City leaders have been discussing the need for the overhaul since at least 2008.
Initial design progress was made in 2018 with engineering firm T.Y. Lin but stalled when the city canceled its contract with the firm in 2023, he said. The firm was not on track to finish the project on its designated timeline, which led to an overall “loss of confidence,” he said.
Here’s what we know about the new phase of the project so far, by the numbers.
65,000
About 65,000 vehicles pass through the U.S. 501 and U.S. 221 intersection every day, Newland said. It’s the most congested intersection in the city, followed by a stretch of Candlers Mountain Road that sees about 45,000 cars a day.
The construction plans are based on traffic projections from a 2018 study, Newland said. That year, about 58,000 vehicles passed through the intersection every day.
The study, which was federally required to begin the design phase with the first engineering firm, predicted steady growth in traffic every year from 2018 through the next two decades, leading to an estimated 78,000 vehicles on the road by 2035.
The split pair is being designed with the 2035 projection in mind, Newland said. He doesn’t anticipate growth exceeding the predictions, especially because the estimates have matched observed traffic increases in the seven years since the study was finished.
“We can only grow so much,” he said. “Avoiding engineering terms here, traffic is a lot like water. It finds its easiest path.”
The increasing congestion is due to growth in retail and jobs in the area surrounding the intersection, said Marjette Upshur, director of the city’s economic development and tourism office. Lynchburg is an employment hub for nearby rural and residential areas, she said, which means thousands of workers pass through the central intersection on their way to and from home in places like Bedford County, Forest and Boonsboro.
Upshur’s office is expecting more job growth at Ivy Creek Innovation Park, an industrial park nestled in the northwest corner of the busy intersection. Earlier this month, the city received $4 million for additional Ivy Creek development from the Virginia Business Ready Sites Program. That’s enough to add two more sites to the industrial park that’s already home to employment powerhouses like Frito Lay, BWXT Advanced Technologies, NovaTech and more, Upshur said.
A smooth intersection will be key to inviting new businesses to fill the open spots, she said.
“If you don’t have easy travel access, businesses won’t even look at you,” Upshur said.
$93.6 million
The estimated cost of the construction project is $93.6 million, Newland said. While that calculation takes projected inflation into account, he said, it will likely rise again before crews break ground in spring 2029.
The total sticker price includes about $10 million to represent the land value for the construction area. The Virginia Department of Transportation acquired the land in the 1980s and ’90s, Newland said, and the land was transferred to the city at no cost in 2009.
The city is the project’s biggest financial contributor, Newland said. It’s putting forward about $51 million, $10 million of which is being matched by the state in a revenue-sharing fund.
The rest of the cost is covered by a $30 million Smart Scale grant, issued by the Virginia Department of Transportation, and a $2.7 million award from the state’s priority transportation fund, Newland said.
Newland hopes to also secure a federal BUILD grant, which could be worth up to $25 million, in the 2026 application season.
Public works officials have applied for the Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development grant program for the past two years but have been turned down. They’ve invested more than $100,000 in the application process — the 75-page application is complicated enough to require a consultant, Newland said.
The application can feel like a long shot in a highly competitive program like BUILD, Newland said. The federal program distributed just 30 grants across the country 2025, according to its website.
More than double
The cost of the project has more than doubled since it was first calculated in 2018, Newland said. The once $38.5 million price tag skyrocketed in 2021 with pandemic inflation and has stayed high with rising costs of everything from materials to labor, he said.
The price also increased because a bridge was added to the original design plan, said Gaynelle Hart, director of public works. The new northbound stretch of U.S. 501 is planned to cross over Old Forest Road before connecting to the Desmond T. Doss Expressway.
The bridge was added to the plans because engineers wanted to prepare for projected traffic increases by giving vehicles more space to spread out at the intersection, Newland said.
Other than the addition of the bridge, today’s design plans are almost identical to the 2018 plans, Hart said. Engineers are only making small adjustments to elements such as stormwater flow, retaining wall placement, and curvature and grade measurements.
Construction isn’t set to begin for another four years, Newland said. That’s how long it will take to finalize design plans and meet federal construction guidelines — both of which are slow processes that require patience, he said.
Construction should conclude in 2031, according to McCormick Taylor’s website. Updates will be provided on the city’s project page throughout the process.
