What you will make

A candidate-road worksheet showing the source and evidence status for each eligibility question.

A quiet rural appearance does not establish program eligibility. Road records, traffic evidence, local action, and VDOT evaluation are needed.

• Find eligibility and approval information in VDOT's program references.
• Record traffic volume with its units, year, and segment.
• Distinguish a preliminary student review from county designation and VDOT evaluation.

Work through the method

1. Identify the segment

   Record the county, route or road name, endpoints, and source establishing that the segment is unpaved and already in the state secondary system. Mark either fact unresolved if an official record is unavailable.

   Check your work: Another person could identify the same road segment from your worksheet.

2. Read the eligibility section

   Read Program Eligibility Criteria on printed page 2 of VDOT's distributed manual and compare it with the live program page. The road must carry no more than 1,500 vehicles per day. Also examine local traffic, anticipated growth, and the funding-dependent Secondary Six-Year Plan condition.

   Check your work: Your worksheet identifies the manual edition, live-page check date, and applicable criteria.

3. Attach evidence to each question

   Create columns for criterion, evidence, source date, and status. Record a traffic count's year, segment, and vehicles-per-day units. Check low-density development context and planned growth using official planning records. Do not replace a traffic count with a visual estimate.

   Check your work: Each row says supported, unresolved, or evidence does not support the criterion.

4. Check designation and review

   Read Planning and Approval Process on printed page 3. Look for a county Board of Supervisors designation resolution and evidence of VDOT evaluation. For secondary-allocation funding, verify the approved Secondary Six-Year Plan entry. Public-involvement provisions still apply when that funding condition does not.

   Check your work: The worksheet distinguishes candidate status, VDOT evaluation, and county designation.

5. Write a bounded conclusion

   Summarize the evidence and unanswered questions in one paragraph. Name the appropriate county or VDOT contact for follow-up. The distributed manual is dated 2014; confirm current technical and environmental requirements with VDOT rather than applying older permit language as current legal advice.

   Check your work: Your conclusion makes no construction, funding, engineering, or environmental approval claim.

Optional practice: complete a candidate-road worksheet

1. Choose one unpaved segment and define its endpoints.
2. Read the manual's eligibility and approval sections and cross-check the live program page.
3. Record available traffic, system, planning, funding, and designation evidence without inventing missing values.
4. Write a short follow-up recommendation. This practice is optional and is not a graded class or official Canvas assignment.

Bring the method into a product

• Candidate-road evidence worksheet
• One-paragraph conclusion and follow-up list

Suggested formats: CSV, PDF.

Reflect: Which missing record most limits your conclusion, and who could provide it?

Avoid these mistakes

• Using an old remembered traffic threshold instead of checking the manual and current program page.
• Assuming any unpaved road qualifies, including a road outside the state secondary system.
• Treating a candidate worksheet as county designation, VDOT approval, or a promise of funding.