A safety analysis recommends that a one-lane roundabout be built at the intersection of Bonham Road and Suncrest Drive in Bristol.
The study of the intersection, in the Exit 7 area near Interstate 81, also recommends restricting an entrance into the Marathon gas station on the corner and adding a cul-de-sac for McArthur Circle at Bonham Road.
Discussion of the roundabout and other improvements is on the agenda for Tuesday night’s city council meeting.
The study was conducted by Kimley Horn, an engineering, planning and design consulting firm based in Raleigh, North Carolina, at the request of the Virginia Department of Transportation.
The intersection is the primary access to a large public school that resulted from the consolidation of three intermediate schools. But there are “no planned improvements at this intersection to accommodate the increased traffic volumes” from the school, the documents state. Virginia Intermediate School opened in the fall of 2024.
The three-legged intersection has no signals. Both Bonham and Suncrest are two-lane roads. Bonham has an average daily traffic of 8,200 vehicles per day north of the intersection and 6,400 vehicles per day south of the intersection, according to agenda information.
Between Jan. 1, 2021, and Nov. 30, 2025, there were eight crashes at the intersection involving four rear-end wrecks, three angle crashes and one head-on collision. Three crashes resulted in injuries, the study states.
The city used the study to submit a preapplication to Virginia’s Smart Scale program, which is how VDOT funds transportation projects. Applications are awarded every two years, and the projects are funded at 100%.
If the city does not move forward with the roundabout and other changes, the application can be withdrawn, according to information in the agenda packet.
Currently, the city has one roundabout, in The Falls shopping center near the Aldi store. There are also plans for two others, one near the intersection of Euclid Avenue and Lee Highway and the other at the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Moore Street.
Those projects are in the design phase and are expected to be completed in 2030, according to VDOT’s website.
The council meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the council chambers of city hall, 300 Lee St. You can view the agenda here.
