Greenfield
Nelson County, Virginia
Three years ago this August 30th, Laura Cavedo and her two daughters, Elschen and Iliana, were killed at the intersection of Route 151 and Greenfield Road (635) while waiting to make a left hand turn. The three were going back and forth to Crozet, moving things into their new home from Shannon Farm.
The triple fatality, three of five that year on 151, prompted residents to have something done about the rural and winding two lane highway that sees accidents weekly, some fatal. Speed limits were reduced to 45 MPH on a large section of the highway. The move appears to have greatly reduced fatalities on the highway. Local Board Of Supervisors and VDOT reacted to public pressure that something be done to the intersection after Laura Cavedo was shoved head on into an oncoming van while waiting to turn left on to Greenfield Road. There was no left hand turn lane at the intersection. A Ruckersville man was eventually sentenced to 90 days in jail in connection with rear end collision killing the mother and daughters.
Within the past two weeks, the culmination of all of those changes has started taking place with improvements to the intersection and stretches of Route 151 both north and south of Greenfield Road. Drivers have no doubt noticed traffic being reduced to one lane starting just north of Ashley’s Market and continuing south for about 2/10’s of a mile. Despite severe budget cuts, the intersection improvement were tagged as a top priority by VDOT for improvement. After months of engineering studies and preparation, the work began in late June 2010.
