The Virginia Department of Transportation held a pre-construction conference Wednesday regarding the project.
Work will involve removing a 48-year-old bridge on Business 23 heading out of Norton toward Appalachia. The bridge is the first one motorists cross after passing the Department of Motor Vehicles office and Prime Sirloin, before the Route 621 turnoff at Dorchester.
In 2010, VDOT reported that the bridge was in poor condition, yet almost 7,000 vehicles crossed it each day.
VDOT Spokeswoman Michelle Earl said on Thursday that even though the project will inconvenience motorists, it will save state maintenance costs over the lifetime of the roadway. Bridges are expensive, she continued, and putting fill material in and laying a roadbed is a much more economical choice.
Construction is expected to begin in early June, explained Earl, and the project’s first phase will involve building the fill material up to the roadway level. Bridge removal and road closure won’t occur until after the Fourth of July holiday. Earl said the contractor is allotted 60 days to have the road closed, but VDOT hopes that time frame will be more like 30 to 45 days.
During this time, small vehicle traffic traveling between Norton and Appalachia will detour onto Norton’s Main Avenue by way of Route 621 and Norton’s 11th Street. Large trucks must detour onto the U.S. 23 Powell Valley bypass.
Initial cost estimates for the project were $1.7 million, but Earl said the actual cost is now under $1 million.
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