Columbia Pike / Washington Blvd Bridge Update
March 21. 2012 0 Comments
There wasn't a ton of new information at the March 20, 2012 meeting on the Columbia Pike / Washington Blvd Bridge, but there were a couple of items of interest. See my previous post on the subject if you need an overview of the project.
Right-of-way acquisition and construction are both expected to start this Spring. They can happen concurrently because most of the project takes place within existing right-of-way. Construction is expected to wrap-up in Summer of 2015.
The contractor confirmed that when the project is complete you will no longer be able to enter Quinn St from Columbia Pike, only enter.
As a pedestrian on the South side of the Pike, you will have two separate crosswalks, one to cross over Queen St, another to cross over the ramp from Columbia Pike toward Washington Blvd. These crosswalks will be tied to separate phases of the stoplight, but VDOT pointed out that on the 2nd phase (when crossing the ramp) you can now also cross Columbia Pike during this same phase of the light - a movement that is practically impossible given the lack of a stoplight or crosswalk there now.
As far as construction impacts are concerned, they said there will be single lane closures which will be confined to 9am-3:30pm so as to avoid impacting rush hour. Construction will take place between 7am and 5pm. There will be some night work and some weekend work when necessary, and there will be a couple portions of construction (such as when demolishing the existing bridge) where they will need to close Columbia PIke under the bridge completely. When this happens, the work will be done on a weekend and Columbia Pike traffic will be detoured up a temporary ramp to meet up with a temporary traffic signal on Washington Blvd, then back down the existing ramp to the other side of Columbia Pike. Hopefully VDOT will post their powerpoint slides from the meeting so I can update this post with a visual to make it more clear.
Right-of-way acquisition and construction are both expected to start this Spring. They can happen concurrently because most of the project takes place within existing right-of-way. Construction is expected to wrap-up in Summer of 2015.
The contractor confirmed that when the project is complete you will no longer be able to enter Quinn St from Columbia Pike, only enter.
As a pedestrian on the South side of the Pike, you will have two separate crosswalks, one to cross over Queen St, another to cross over the ramp from Columbia Pike toward Washington Blvd. These crosswalks will be tied to separate phases of the stoplight, but VDOT pointed out that on the 2nd phase (when crossing the ramp) you can now also cross Columbia Pike during this same phase of the light - a movement that is practically impossible given the lack of a stoplight or crosswalk there now.
As far as construction impacts are concerned, they said there will be single lane closures which will be confined to 9am-3:30pm so as to avoid impacting rush hour. Construction will take place between 7am and 5pm. There will be some night work and some weekend work when necessary, and there will be a couple portions of construction (such as when demolishing the existing bridge) where they will need to close Columbia PIke under the bridge completely. When this happens, the work will be done on a weekend and Columbia Pike traffic will be detoured up a temporary ramp to meet up with a temporary traffic signal on Washington Blvd, then back down the existing ramp to the other side of Columbia Pike. Hopefully VDOT will post their powerpoint slides from the meeting so I can update this post with a visual to make it more clear.