Representatives from the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) proposed for signs to be placed in the county, particularly in the area of the landfill, during a public hearing about VDOT’s six-year plan Thursday.

VDOT Representatives Billy Smith and Brian Currin proposed the signs in addition to other projects VDOT would be set to do over the next several years.

Projects, Smith said, include maintenance on Route 721, Battes Road. The coverage area of the project, Smith said, is 2.8 miles and is fully funded.

Smith said VDOT debated separating the project into two projects, but decided to work on completing the project at the same time.

Maintenance on Red Level Lane on Route 639 and Oak Grove Road on Route 762 are also fully funded.

Smith said maintenance on Route 612, St. Johns Church Road is also fully funded, but said the work is not expected to begin this year.

Smith said Varick Chapel Road was one that VDOT added to its six-year plan and is 1 mile in length.

He said VDOT will lastly work on 3/10th of a mile at Nutbush Road. Responding to a question from Lamont Brand, a member of the public, about what work will take place, Smith said VDOT will work on a section at the upper end of the road that crosses an old train track to widen the road a foot on each side and potentially place asphalt on it.

Currin and Virginia State Police Public Relations Coordinator Susan Rowland noted an incident recently in the county involved a truck.

“At approximately 3:18 p.m. on May 8, Virginia State Police responded to a report of a disabled vehicle in Lunenburg County,” Rowland said. “A tractor trailer on Plank Road near Reedy Creek had become stuck in a ditch and was partially blocking the roadway. A tow truck was called to the scene to assist.”

“The problem is we’ve got these out of state drivers coming in, unfamiliar with the area and their first time to the landfill, using GPSs, and they’re bypassing the road by some of them coming in from the Kenbridge end and some coming in from this end,” Currin said, referring to Lunenburg County. He said the smaller bridges pose a threat to the tractor trailers.

“That’s something we don’t want,” Currin said.

Currin suggested during the meeting that the county approve a request to purchase eight signs to warn drivers of those trucks, and people in the county, to be alert of the close proximity to the landfill.

Currin clarified Monday that two additional signs are proposed to be placed in the area of Routes 659 and 643, before the trucks would turn on Old Mansion Road to reach the landfill, making the total number of signs 10.

Two signs would go to Route 40, in the area of the former Lunenburg Middle School building, two signs in the area of the Lunenburg Courthouse, one sign on Route 655 before entering the area of Route 654, two at the intersection of Routes 635 and 643, two in the area of Routes 659 and 643, before a truck enters Old Mansion Road and a sign after Route 654.

“Our main concern is we don’t want to get them beyond (Route) 659, depending on which end they come in on,” Currin said Monday. “If they go past the courthouse and they go down on Reedy Creek, they’ve got to cross that bridge … And … say they miss the turn on Route 635 and 643 and they turn down Bear Element, those two bridges, that’s another risk … We don’t want to put them in that predicament.”

Members of the board asked Currin to come back during the June meeting and present the complete proposal.