How VDOT road widening, interchange and alignment work reaches private property, and where the value usually goes.
Highway work is the most common source of condemnation in Virginia. The Virginia Department of Transportation acquires right of way for widening, new interchanges, realignments and safety improvements, and its condemnation authority sits in Title 33.2 Chapter 10 of the Code of Virginia, operating alongside the general procedure in Title 25.1.
On most parcels the acquisition is a strip along the frontage rather than the whole property. That makes the interesting question not what the strip is worth, but what the project does to everything behind it.
Virginia compensates loss of access expressly, following the 2012 amendment.
Read morePartial takingA strip acquired with the balance of the parcel remaining.
Read moreRemaining propertyDamage to the residue, which is where most of the argument sits.
Read moreFair market valueHow the strip itself is measured.
Read moreBusiness propertyCommercial frontage, parking and circulation.
Read moreJust compensationThe Virginia standard and what it reaches.
Read moreThe alignment is settled and the right of way plans are drawn.
Your property appears on a plan with the proposed take shown against it.
VDOT obtains a valuation of the land and any damage to the residue.
Title 25.1 Chapter 2 requires an effort to buy before condemnation proceeds.
You receive a written offer, with the appraisal behind it.
Under Title 25.1 Chapter 3 a certificate of take or certificate of deposit can transfer the interest and let construction begin.
If no agreement is reached, the case proceeds with your answer and grounds of defence.
Compensation is determined and the award entered.
Ask for the plan sheet and find your driveway on it. A relocated or narrowed entrance is a compensable change, not a detail.
A raised median that removes left turns can transform a retail site without taking an extra square foot of it.
Land left above or below the new road surface may be far less usable than it was.
Temporary construction easements should end. Confirm the term and what is restored.
Large corridor work includes the Interstate 64 Gap Segment C widening, the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel Expansion and the Hampton Roads Express Lanes. Each has produced right of way acquisition along its length.
Title 25.1 Chapter 3 provides for a certificate of take or a certificate of deposit, which can vest the interest and allow construction to proceed while the amount of compensation is still being determined.
Article I Section 11 as amended in 2012 expressly brings lost profits and lost access within just compensation, subject to what the statutes and courts require to prove them.
No. It is the valuation VDOT relies on to make its offer. Owners frequently obtain their own, particularly where damage to the residue is in question.
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