Skip to main content

Nelson County, Virginia gets their first traffic light

Adam Froehlig passed along an article to me today about Nelson County, Virginia getting their first ever traffic signal. It will be on US 29 in Lovingston and will be functional sometime in March of this year. It is also the first traffic light on US 29 from Madison Heights to Charlottesville. Coincidentally, a McDonalds has recently opened in Lovingston which is the first fast food restaurant to open in Nelson County.

If you have ever been on this stretch of US 29, you will have to say it is extremely beautiful. It rolls through gorgeous country side. The Blue Ridge Mountains are to your east. In Lovingston, Peebles Mountain (elv. 1826') rises above the small village for a dramatic scene. US 29 through this part of Virginia is one of my all time favorite drives. I usually try to pop a Dave Matthews CD in through here and the music almost always fits perfectly.

I found it amazing that this would be Nelson County's first traffic signal. It is amazing that the county has gone this far into the auto age without one. There are not many of these counties left anywhere along the East Coast. And also because Nelson County is really not that far from cities like Charlottesville, Roanoke, Richmond, and Washington, D.C. , it is amazing how much country there still is out there.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I believe that Hamilton County here in New York doesn't have any traffic lights either. Perhaps in Indian Lake, but even there I don't think they have any signals.

Popular posts from this blog

Petroleum Club Road (former California State Route 33 and US Route 399 past the Lakeview Gusher)

Petroleum Club Road is an approximately 5.3-mile rural highway located in the Sunset Oil Field of western Kern County.  This corridor was constructed as a frontage road of the Sunset Railroad and would be the site of the Lakeview Gusher in 1910.  Petroleum Club Road was the original alignment of California State Route 33 and US Route 399 between 1934-1938.  In 1938 the West Side Highway was constructed west of Lakeview Gusher and still serves as the current alignment of California State Route 33.   Part 1; the history of Petroleum Club Road Petroleum Club Road is the original highway which linked the oil communities of Maricopa and Taft.  Both cities were developed around the early boom of the Sunset Oil Field.  The early Sunset Oil Field can be seen centered along Cienega Canyon Road southwest of Buena Vista Lake in Township 11 North, Range 23 West on the 1898 Kern County Surveyors map .  In 1901 Post Office Service would be established at the Su...

Hawaii Route 50

Hawaii Route 50 is the longest Sign Route on the island of Kauai at 32.6 miles.  The entirety of Hawaii Route 50 is overlaid atop Kaumualii Highway from Lihue west to the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands. Hawaii Route 50 is one of the original 1955-era State Highway designations on Kauai.  Much of the Kaumualii Highway corridor was constructed during the sugar plantation boom of the late Hawaiian Kingdom.  The first tee beam bridge in Hawaii would be constructed along the Kaumualii Highway in 1911 at the Hanapepe.  Much of this highway would be modernized to two-lane standards through the 1930s and 1940s. This page is part of the Gribblenation Hawaii Roads series.  A compellation of all Hawaii-related media from both Gribblenation and RoadwayWiz can be found by clicking  here .  Part 1; the history of Hawaii Route 50 and Kaumualii Highway Hawaii Route 50 is the longest highway on Kauai at 32.6 miles.  The highway begins at Rice Str...

Did Caltrans just kill the G26 cutout US Route shields?

The US Route System was formally created by the American Association of State Highway Officials during November 1926.  Through the history of the system the only state to which has elected to maintain cutout US Route shields has been California.  The G26 series cutout US Route shields have become a favorite in the road enthusiast hobby and are generally considered to be much more visually pleasing than the standard Federal Highway Administration variant.  However, the G26 shield series appears to have been killed off on January 18, 2026, when Caltrans updated their Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices.  This blog will examine the history of the US Route shield specifications in California and what is happening with the 2026 changes.  The blog cover photo is facing towards the terminus of California State Route 136 and at a G26-2 specification US Route 395 shield.  In the background Mount Whitney can be seen in the Sierra Nevada range.   ...