CHPE Construction Creates Dangerous Bottleneck in Stony Point

Sitting in a corner booth at Stony Point Family Diner, diners can see the entire restaurant. Waiters bustle about, smiling at the regulars as patrons dig in to all the diner favorites, and all seems well. Until, however, out of the corner of your eye you see a monstrous semi whizz past. The giants are hard to ignore when it seems one wrong turn could end with a Final Destination-eque scene.

Less than 100 feet from owner Archie’s restaurant is a sign that states “Road Closed, Local Traffic Only”, “Detour”, and “No Trucks Except Local Deliveries”. In front of those signs is a digital message board reading “Trucks Off Detour Route”. In the late afternoon sun, the sign was impossible to read, even though we stood a mere three feet away.

These “No Trucks Allowed” signs are the compelling ones as they elucidate the reason behind the frustration of owner of Stony Point Family Diner, Archie. He pointed at the signs where, in black and white, it states that there are not to be any trucks heading down this road. As the RCT drove down the newly one way road, the right hand side ended in a sheer cliff. Even in a sedan going 25 miles an hour, the drive is a tight fit.

There are houses lining the road  small road and a park right across the street. To think of a child running over to the park from their home is frightening enough with just Class D vehicles, but add a semi barreling through and the thought becomes nightmarish.

This one way seems to be a subjective term for those Class D drivers as well. In order to leave the parking lot, sedans poke their nose out into what was once a two way road, glance left and right, then shoot up the now one-way. It seems drivers are relying on sheer prayer that no semi comes barreling down. When asked why the cars were going out this way, owner Archie shook his head, stating that if they didn’t, the customers would be rerouted over 25 minutes, sometimes getting stuck in over 45 minutes of construction traffic.

Archie presented us with numerous videos of the semis that charge through, saying that they have become non-stop with the arrival of CHPE construction. He swiped through video after video, some with semis stuck on the small road, some with police trying to tell semis they cannot go down the road with traffic building up behind them, and many with patrons trying to leave only to encounter 14 foot semis going down a road that has two signs telling them not to. Archie states that the one way sign only went up a few weeks ago, which has been frustrating, but what really concerns him is the danger he witnesses on the daily for his customers. One look at his camera roll tells you that this man is worried in a big way.

So, what’s to be done? Archie has reached out to local government and police, but they are stretched thin as it is and have encouraged him to seek help from the state or the DOT. Multiple calls have been made to the Department of Transportation, to CHPE representatives, to the senator, but Archie stills seems to be struggling for any sort of foothold.

Join the RCT as we continue to investigate discuss the negative and positive affects of the CHPE project from multiple perspectives.

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