Albemarle County: Work on diverging diamond interchange project impacts traffic

Motorists on U.S. 250 in the area of the diverging diamond interchange project in Albemarle County will be detoured onto Interstate 64 for several nights over the next two weeks while paving work is done.

During the paving operations, from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., only emergency vehicles will be allowed to travel through the work area.

The specific nights for the detour will be determined based on the weather, since the paving operations require a minimum base temperature. If the temperature is forecast to dip below that minimum, overnight paving cannot take place.

During the paving operations traffic will detour as follows:

• S. 250 Westbound through traffic will use I-64 East to Exit 129 (Route 616 Keswick/Boyd Tavern) then back to U.S. 250.
• S. 250 Eastbound through traffic will use I-64 West to Exit 121 (Route 20 Charlottesville/Scottsville) then back to U.S. 250.
• I-64 Eastbound to U.S. 250 Westbound traffic will use I-64 East to Exit 129 (Route 616 Keswick/Boyd Tavern) then back to U.S. 250.
• I-64 Westbound to U.S. 250 Eastbound traffic will use I-64 West to Exit 121 (Route 20 Charlottesville/Scottsville) then back to U.S. 250.

This paving will allow the third lane of U.S. 250 through the interchange to open to traffic, which should alleviate some of the congestion and delays that motorists have been experiencing during peak travel periods.

The diverging diamond interchange briefly shifts vehicles to the opposite side of the road, eliminating traditional left turns that must cross over oncoming traffic. The new interchange will improve safety by reducing the number of spots where vehicles could collide and can handle more than 600 left-turn movements per hour, twice the capacity of a conventional interchange.

When driving through the diverging diamond configuration, motorists will proceed through a traffic signal at one end of the interchange and follow their lane to the opposite side of the roadway. Motorists who wish to access I-64 will merge left onto the interstate using an on-ramp without having to stop or wait for oncoming traffic to pass. Through traffic on U.S. 250 proceeds to a second traffic signal at the opposite side of the interchange and follows their lane back to the right side of the road.

Until construction is complete in February 2023 lane closures will continue during nighttime hours. The speed limit on U.S. 250 through the project is 25 miles per hour.

The diverging diamond interchange is one of six projects in a package of improvements to Albemarle County roads in a $28.5 million design-build contract awarded to Curtis Contracting Inc. of West Point. Wallace Montgomery of Vienna is providing design services for the projects.

Four projects, the reconfiguration of the I-64 Exit 118 interchange at U.S. 29, an additional lane from I-64 to the Fontaine Avenue exit from U.S. 29 north, the Rio Mills connector road between Rio Mills Road and Berkmar Drive and a roundabout at Route 20 (Stony Point Road) and Route 649 (Proffit Road) are substantially complete.

A second roundabout at U.S. 250 (Rockfish Gap Turnpike) and Route 151 (Critzer Shop Road) at Afton is nearing completion.