The Commonwealth Transportation Board today awarded an $11,121,077.60 contract to Fielder’s Choice Enterprises Inc., of Charlottesville, to construct improvements to the Route 29/Route 250 interchange in Charlottesville. Fielder’s Choice’s bid was the lower of two bids on the project and was less than the Virginia Department of Transportation’s confidential engineer’s cost estimate for construction of the project.
The interchange improvement project is the first roadway improvement in the Route 29 Solutions package to advance to construction. Work is expected to begin in the spring; the contract has a fixed completion date of May 21, 2016.
The project will improve the southbound entrance ramp from Route 29 (Emmet Street) onto the Route 250 Bypass by adding a lane on the ramp, lengthening the merge area and adding an additional lane on Route 250 west to the Barracks Road exit. It also includes an additional southbound lane to Route 29 south of Hydraulic Road to the interchange.
The project is part of a package of eight in Charlottesville and Albemarle County that will improve safety and increase capacity and efficiency along Route 29 and provide alternate routes on parallel roads.
Other projects included in the package: widen Route 29 from Polo Grounds Road to Towncenter Drive; construct Berkmar Drive Extended from Hilton Heights Road to Hollymead Town Center; grade separate the intersection of Rio Road and Route 29; extend Hillsdale Drive from Greenbrier Drive to Hydraulic Road; install state-of-the-art adaptive signal technology at the intersections from Hydraulic Road north to Airport Road; complete a study and preliminary engineering for improvements to the Route 29/Hydraulic Road intersection and a possible extension of Hillsdale Drive south of Hydraulic Road.
Information about the Route 29 Solutions package can be found on VDOT’s web site at: www.Route29Solutions.org.
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Chris Graham
