VDOT to fix road where girl, 16, died

A portion of Old Bridge Road in Lake Ridge is set to be rebuilt this year to better accommodate cars in a dangerous sloping S curve.

But those improvements didn’t come soon enough for 16-year-old Shelby Nicholson, who was killed in a car accident Wednesday night in that portion of the roadway.

The Lake Ridge teenager was riding with a friend in a 2005 Chevy Aveo traveling west on Old Bridge Road.

Both Woodbridge Senior High School students were coming back from a trip to the mall.

Just after 4:30 p.m., the 16-year-old driver lost control of the car while traveling between Colby and Oakwood drives.

She crossed the median and collided with a 2005 Lincoln Navigator SUV.

Nicholson was killed instantly, while the driver was taken to the hospital where she remains in critical condition.

The driver and the passenger in the SUV were taken to the hospital with injuries that didn’t appear to be life-threatening, said police.

Between May 1, 2007, and April 30, 2008, there were 12 crashes on the stretch of Old Bridge Road where Nicholson was killed, said Mike Salmon, Virginia Department of Transportation spokesman.

Since the mid-90s that stretch of Old Bridge Road has been high atop a list of accident hot spots.

It’s an S curve that slopes down a steep hill and bottoms out over a stream bed.

Signs warning motorists of the dangerous curves were posted in 1997, and an extensive guardrail system was erected.

In 2000 “slippery when wet” signs were posted to give drivers extra warning when driving in wet conditions, similar to those during the accident.

The speed limit in that stretch of road, since 1992, has been 45 mph, Salmon said.

It wasn’t until 2003 officials saw the need to improve the road in an effort to fix at least the first portion of the S curve.

The state applied for $500,000 in federal highway improvement money to construct a higher embankment on the westbound portion of the curve — from Colby Drive to the stream bed — in an effort to prevent cars from sliding off the road.

The money was approved a year later, but the project has been in the design phase ever since.

Now VDOT is ready to begin construction on the project, possibly getting under way this spring, Salmon said. Officials are also looking at doing the same on the eastbound side of the road.

But that news wasn’t enough to console a family that was missing its only daughter.

“We know it’s true but it’s still not real to us yet,” said Pat Daubenspeck, Nicholson’s grandmother.

She said her granddaughter loved working for the school yearbook and was hoping to be named editor next year.

She used to row for her high school crew team, and loved to root for both the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Washington Capitals.

After graduating from high school, Daubenspeck said, her granddaughter planned to go to East Carolina University. She wanted to be a fashion designer.

“It’s really hard to imagine my life without her … we had so many plans … our kids were going to be best friends like we were,” said 16-year-old Shawna Thorpe, fighting back tears.

Thorpe was at Nicholson’s house Thursday night going through photos of her late friend.

Daubenspeck said her granddaughter met the driver of the car at school, where they became friends.

The driver has come out of a coma but remains in critical condition, Daubenspeck said.

Also a Woodbridge High student, the 16-year-old driver is an active cheerleader and sings in the choir, said a school administrator.

Many teachers at the high school were distraught after hearing of the accident.

“As teachers they get very attached to the students because they see them every day,” said David Huckestein, principal at Woodbridge High School.

Huckestein brought in grief counselors to the school Thursday and personally called teachers right after he heard about the accident.

He said Nicholson was an office aide and will be sorely missed.

Friends and family have been invited to the Mountcastle Funeral Home in Dale City for a celebration of her life Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m., and again from 7 to 9 p.m. The funeral service will be the following day at 3:30 p.m. in the funeral home.

The family plans to create a scholarship fund in her honor that would benefit a student studying photography or journalism, two of Nicholson’s interests, Daubenspeck said.

She is survived by her parents, Stacy Nicholson and Bobby Nicholson.

Staff writer Uriah A. Kiser can be reached at 703-878-8065.

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