The grade-separated intersection at Route 29 (Seminole Trail) and Route 631 (Rio Road) will reopen to traffic tonight, 46 days ahead of the scheduled Sept. 2 reopening. The final work, including painting pavement markings and activating the traffic signals, should be complete tonight, weather permitting.
Vehicles on Route 29 with destinations north or south of Rio Road should take one of the two inside lanes that go under the intersection. Motorists heading to a destination on Rio Road or to a business adjacent to the intersection should take one of the two outside lanes to the signal-controlled intersection. From there they can turn onto Rio Road or continue straight through the intersection to the business entrance.
The temporary median break just south of Myers Drive that allows northbound vehicles to make a u-turn and return south on Route 29 will be closed. The temporary median break at Berkmar Drive will also be closed and that intersection will again allow only right turns from Route 29 south onto Berkmar Drive and right turns from Berkmar Drive onto Route 29.
Additional construction work remains to finish the intersection project, which has a fixed completion date of Dec. 2. Lane-Corman Joint Venture, the contractor building the project, will continue overnight lane closures on both Route 29 and Rio Road between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. to complete that work. All businesses entrances will remain open during business hours. Motorists should be alert for lane closures and signs directing traffic through the work zone.
Between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. all lanes on Route 29 and on Rio Road will be open to traffic and all business entrances will be open. The speed limit on Route 29 within the project work zone is 35 mph until the project is complete.
A video rendering that depicts the traffic flow through the grade-separated intersection can be viewed on YouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=M4SD9omLTNA
The Rio Road grade-separated intersection project is one of eight Route 29 Solutions projects to improve safety and increase mobility along the Route 29 corridor in Charlottesville and Albemarle County. Information about upcoming lane closures and other traffic impacts, as well as news about the projects, is posted on the Route 29 Solutions web site on the News and Traffic Alerts page.
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