Paving Morgarts Beach Road added to six-year secondary road plan
Published 4:23 pm Tuesday, June 10, 2025
- Paving Morgarts Beach Road west of its intersection with Blounts Corner Road has been added to Isle of Wight County's six-year secondary road improvements plan.
Paving a 1.3-mile stretch of Morgarts Beach Road has been added to the Virginia Department of Transportation’s secondary six-year improvement program for Isle of Wight County.
County supervisors voted unanimously on June 5 to approve the plan, which is updated annually in conjunction with VDOT.
VDOT maintains a separate six-year plan for Isle of Wight’s primary roads that includes costlier projects such as the ongoing Nike Park Road extension and the eventual widening of Carrollton Boulevard, also known as Route 17.
Funding for secondary roads is based on projected state tax revenues over a six-year period. Isle of Wight Transportation Administrator Jamie Oliver said projected revenue decreased roughly $70,000 for fiscal years 2026 through 2031, but no projects were removed from the current plan. Paving the west stretch of Morgarts Beach Road is the only addition this year.
A stretch of Morgarts Beach Road east of its intersection with Blounts Corner Road was paved in 2017.
Paving the stretch of Morgarts west of Blounts Corner to Old Stage Highway is expected to cost around $750,000 and is not fully funded within the six-year plan.
“It will stay in there until it accumulates enough funds to move forward,” Oliver said.
Two pave-in-place projects that are fully funded and expected to begin this summer are just under a mile of Woody Acres Way from Bethel Church Lane to its dead end, and just under a half-mile of Blairs Creek Way from Woody Acres Way to its dead end. Both roads are located on the outskirts of Smithfield.
The Woody Acres Way paving is estimated to cost $440,000 while the Blairs Creek paving is expected to cost $370,000.
The six-year plan also includes paving 2.1 miles of Strawberry Plains from where it intersects Broadwater Road, also known as Route 620, to Racetrack Road, also known as Route 637. The paving is estimated at $1.2 million, and like Morgarts Beach, is not fully funded within the plan timeline.
Since around 2012, Isle of Wight’s pave-in-place program through the secondary six-year plan has paved more than a dozen formerly dirt and gravel roads. VDOT deemed another five roads – Mokete Trail, Maynards Store Road, Meadow Drive, Sandy Point Lane and Dodge Lane – ineligible, Oliver said. The remaining unpaved roads not already completed or in the six-year plan include Tings Road, Easy Street, Orchard Lane, Peachtree Lane, Haynes Lane and Booker T. Drive.
Information on how to request a road be included in the county’s pave-in-place program is available at https://www.isleofwight.gov/departments/public_works/transportation/how_do_i_get_my_road_paved.php.