New Bridges Planned in Ivy

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Illustration of the new bridge on Route 677.

The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) will replace two bridges in Ivy in 2015, one crossing the CSX railroad tracks at Broomley Road and Old Ballard Road (Rt. 677) and the other over Ivy Creek on Dick Woods Road (Rt. 637) just south of Ivy village.

VDOT engineers hosted a public comment session at Murray Elementary School Dec. 20.

The new Broomley Road bridge will be a 30-feet-wide, steel truss structure, prefabricated and designed to be lowered into place by a crane. It will be 23 1/2 feet above the tracks, nearly four feet higher than the current bridge (which was built by the railroad). Once it is in place, a concrete deck will be poured on it and it will be rated to carry all legal loads, meaning tractor trailers. A three-way stop system will be used at the bridge once it reopens. Construction is expected to close the roads for six to nine months. A 2011 count showed that 740 vehicles use Route 677 daily. Traffic will have to detour by way of Owensville Road. The project’s cost is estimated at $4.68 million and funding is in place.

The current bridge on Route 677 near Ivy Nursery.

The bridge on Dick Woods Road over Ivy Creek will be a 28-feet-wide single-span pre-stressed concrete slab structure with steel guard rails and capable of carrying all legal loads. The project’s estimated cost is $2.46 million and funding is ready.

Because the former bridge at the site had significantly deteriorated, it was replaced in September with a temporary structure intended to serve until the new bridge is finished. Construction is expected to take six to nine months. Bloomfield Road will serve as the detour. Route 637 carries 1,100 vehicles per day, according to a 2011 count.

Neighbors near the bridge suggested that its location be shifted slightly east and the curves in the road as it approaches the bridge be straightened out. VDOT engineers said they have no money for changing the road itself.

Bids for the projects will be sought in December of 2014 and construction should begin in April 2015.

 

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