Lee County no longer sets aside money for gravel in each supervisor’s district. The Board of Supervisors voted 3 to 2 on May 19 “to no longer fund the gravel expense for individual districts.” Supervisors Josh Flanary, Brian Shoemaker and Roger Waddell voted yes, and Mike Kidwell and D.D. Leonard voted no, according to the May 19 minutes.
Under the rules supervisors described in March, a road needed at least three houses to qualify, and each district had a total of $1,250. When Leonard asked in June whether the gravel fund was in the new budget, County Administrator Clint Carter said no.
What the state’s six-year plan funds
For roads the state maintains, the Virginia Department of Transportation’s secondary six-year plan sets the schedule. A public hearing came first, before the May 19 meeting. There, Joey Mullins, acting administrator of VDOT’s Wise Residency, said Lee County receives about $500,000 in unpaved roads funds, according to the minutes of that hearing. He answered supervisors’ questions about the schedule:
- Seminary and Slemp roads: scheduled for 2027 and fully funded as of July 1.
- Blue Hollow Road: four phases, funded in fiscal years 2028, 2029, 2030 and 2031.
- Boones Path Road: added at the board’s request, estimated at $695,000 for 2 miles, with work scheduled to begin in 2032.
One resident spoke at the hearing. Rebecca Cline said she lives on the stretch of road added to the plan. New homes are going up and bringing more traffic, she said, and the work “is definitely needed.” The board then adopted the plan 5 to 0.
Other projects are further along. Back Valley Road, Route 603, was in environmental review in November 2025. VDOT’s Wise Residency administrator told the board then that it should be ready to begin in summer 2026, according to the November 18 minutes. The minutes since then do not say whether work started.
A second try for state money in Pennington Gap
Bigger projects compete statewide through VDOT’s Smart Scale program, and Lee County came up empty in the last round. In January 2025, then-County Administrator Robby Wright told the board that its Powell Mountain extension “did not score at all.” A turn lane at the hospital and mini mall “scored a little bit but not enough to get funded,” he said, according to the January 21, 2025 minutes. The Commonwealth Transportation Board’s January 2025 staff-recommended funding list for that round includes three of the Bristol District’s 20 applications, none in Lee County.
The new application is aimed at the west end of Pennington Gap. In May, the board backed LENOWISCO, the regional planning district, as the applicant for the “ALT US 58 at Combs Road Corridor Improvements” project. According to the county’s resolution, it would build about 2,750 feet of new 5-foot sidewalk and a landscaped median. It would add high-visibility crossings at Combs Road, mid-block at the Sunoco and on Calvary Street, plus new center turn lanes along Alternate Route 58.
The full application was due August 3, 2026, for the state’s fiscal 2028 program. The minutes do not give the project’s cost, and its score has not been made public.
Requests that did not pass the test
Some local asks run into VDOT’s engineering rules. A lower speed limit in front of Thomas Walker High School was rejected in November 2024 because it did not meet the criteria, the VDOT residency administrator told the board. Those criteria are based on the 85th percentile speed and the accident ratio. In November 2025, after a Jasper resident asked for a lower limit on U.S. Route 23, he said he did not think that road would meet the criteria either.
Residents with a road request can raise it with their supervisor or at the board’s public comment period on the third Tuesday of each month. VDOT’s Wise Residency handles maintenance in the county, and the six-year plan is reviewed each spring at a public hearing.
