Danger Ahead: A look at the most dangerous roads in Hampton Roads

Andy Fox and Jane Alvarez-Wertz

6 months ago

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — A 10 On Your Side investigation discovered there are more crashes at one local intersection than any other in Hampton Roads.

Most dangerous intersection

WAVY Reporter Andy Fox took a close look at the numbers provided by the Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization (HRTPO), and it revealed that Mercury Boulevard at Power Plant Parkway in Hampton had the most crashes last year, among the 1,013 intersections analyzed for the report. A cluster of 79 crashes, with seven serious injuries reported.

Hampton resident Elaine Taylor drives this route. “People are speeding up all the time out here, honey. That’s all they do on this road right here, and the motorcycles, oh my gosh they are terrible,” she told WAVY.

Keith Nichols, Principal Transportation Engineer for HRTPO, pointed to the 422-page 2023 Regional Safety Study which showed there were 267 crashes reported at that intersection between 2017 and 2021.

“And so, they’re running the red light at that location, and then causing severe crashes where they, you know, T-bone each other going through the intersection,” Nichols said.

“That’s why I don’t come through here on my motorcycle. This is a bad intersection. I’ve seen crashes out here, yes, and I do not come through here at all,” said Hampton resident Carroll Dabney.

Brian Pittman thinks a short light for motorists turning left at the intersection contributes to the crashes. “I do think that has something to do with the crashes. I do, because people will run it to get through it.” While speaking with Pittman, we witnessed someone race through the red light.

Nichols said the intersection is so big you probably can’t add green time to the lights because it will take green time away from another lane that has even more traffic.

#2 on the list is also in Hampton

We didn’t have to travel far to find number two for the intersection with the most crashes in Hampton Roads. It’s only about a mile down the road, at Mercury Boulevard and Coliseum Drive, also in Hampton.

HRTPO reports 226 crashes between 2017 and 2021.

“I just think people run lights more than they used to. Yellow use to mean slow down; now it means speed up and head on through, and I see that all the time at Mercury and Coliseum,” said Bert Senter from Smithfield.

10 On Your Side found it stunning that on HRTPO’s “total crash list” that ranks intersections with the most crashes, five of the top 10 are not only in Hampton, but they are also on Mercury Boulevard.

Nichols is aware it’s a problem area, “Yeah, Mercury Boulevard definitely popped up on our list, and looking at the data, red light running is a problem; distracted driving is a problem too.”

Hampton Mayor Donnie Tuck told 10 On Your Side he was not aware of the data regarding so many Mercury Blvd. intersections until we brought it to his attention. Once we did, he told WAVY, “I contacted our public works director, to find out in fact, what was going on, and so I think we’re going to have a report coming to council.”

Another HRTPO chart (see below) shows the “Total Fatal & Serious Injury Crashes” from 2017-2021. Mercury Blvd. accounts for nine out of the top 15 roads, and three of the mentions are in the top four.

Non-intersection dangerous roads

Statistics show the non-intersection stretch of road with the highest fatality and serious injury rate is both directions of the MLK Jr. Freeway, between High Street and London Boulevard in Portsmouth. Nichols explained, “There is a big S curve and we found lots of serious injuries and fatalities at that location, more than we found anywhere else. We saw drivers can’t seem to get through the S curve.”

The number one cluster for crashes in all of Hampton Roads, according to the DMV, was on I-264 at Independence Blvd. There were 94 crashes with five serious injuries reported in 2023.

Nichols said, “It is designed to standards that we would not build today.”

Critics have always argued Virginia Beach built up Town Center without solving the traffic issue around it.

“So, you have a cloverleaf with short merging areas. You’ve got nearby signalized intersections, issues like that you see there. Those unfortunately do cause safety issues,” Nichols explained.

Safety issues include situations like the quick forced merging over several lanes to get to Best Buy on Independence Blvd. once you exit. Nichols said this accounted for most of the crashes at that location.

The second highest cluster of crashes across Hampton Roads was in Hampton at the aforementioned intersection of Mercury Boulevard and Power Plant Parkway, with 79 crashes and seven serious injuries.

DMV’s third cluster of crashes is also in Virginia Beach, at I-264 at Witchduck Road. There were 74 crashes reported in 2023 with two serious injuries.

Massive construction in the area may have had something to do with that.

Newport News highest crash rate

“We heard crashes all the time, and we were usually the first ones to call 911 to get the police out here, and ambulances,” said Derek Elkins about the Newport News intersection at Roanoke Avenue at 48th Street. According to HRTPO, that intersection had the highest crash rate last year.

Crash rate is different than total crashes. The crash rate not only accounts for the number of crashes, but also considers the exposure based on the number of users of the intersection. The average crash rate is then extended to consider 100 million entering vehicles to balance out those smaller intersections that may not have as much volume but have a concerning number of crashes.

Elkins and his fellow employees at Whitlock Highway Products are often first responders. They even have pictures to prove it. “We could have one accident a week when people on motorcycles go to the hospital. We had a family in the ditch right here upside down. We had to pull them out,” said Elkins.

It got so bad, Newport News finally made the intersection a four-way stop. “That did it. We ended up getting two more stop signs to make the intersection a four-way stop, and that has pretty much taken care of all the accidents. We’ve only had one accident since the stop sign went in.”

Rural Suffolk intersection has seen it all

We end our road crash tour in rural Suffolk, where you can hear the calls of the Royal Palm Turkeys at farmer Mack Byrum’s family farm.

“We have seen so many accidents — trucks, cars, motorcycles. I see it all,” said Byrum.

This image shows the intersections with the highest crash rates between 2017 and 2021.

As you can see, according to the HRTPO, the Copeland and Manning Road intersection in Suffolk has the second highest crash rate for fatal and serious Injury behind the Newport News intersection.

“I don’t know if we need to put up like a light here. A caution light may work to remind people. I don’t know if that will work,” Byrum said.

Nichols has this reminder for everyone who drives a vehicle, “So do not use your cell phone when you are driving, don’t drink and drive, use your seatbelt and stick close to the speed limit. If you do those four things we will see a decrease about 100 fatalities immediately, so those are the four big things we can do to improve safety in our region.”