BY DONNIE JOHNSTON

There will be no roundabout on State Route 3 in Stevensburg.
Brent Sprinkel, assistant district administrator for the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Culpeper District, confirmed Thursday that the controversial traffic-calming  measure is off the table  for the widening project.
Sprinkel said that the roundabout, which had been proposed at the State Route 663 intersection, would require more right of way than originally anticipated and that extra land would infringe on historic battlefield sites.

Since the project is being funded with federal money, Washington guidelines require that VDOT design the four lanes using the least amount of historic land possible.

The Stevensburg segment has been a controversial part of a 4.1-mile project—from just west of Lignum to just west of Stevensburg—that has been on VDOT’s road plan for more than a decade.

When this segment is completed, Route 3 will be a four-lane highway all the way from Fredericksburg to Culpeper.
Construction is slated to begin in 2014.
Most of Stevensburg, settled in the middle 1700s as “York,” is considered historic. Washington initially rejected VDOT’s original plan to build a bypass around the tiny hamlet of about 100  because that route would have skirted part of Hansborough’s Ridge, where Union cannon were placed during the Battle of Brandy Station in June 1863.

During several community meetings, VDOT told residents that studies indicated that a traffic signal was not warranted at the Route 663 intersection. The roundabout idea was then proposed.

“Everybody was convinced that that was the safest way to go,” said Culpeper County Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Chase, who represents the Stevensburg District.

Chase said  he will meet with VDOT officials next week.
Sprinkel said that additional signs—including one that displays a vehicle’s speed—or perhaps a caution light might be erected to help slow traffic to the proposed 45-mph speed limit through the village.
Donnie Johnston:
djohnston@freelancestar.com