Survey, geology, and environmental crews with the Virginia Department of Transportation will soon begin working in several areas along Route 29 north of Charlottesville as preliminary engineering work begins on the Route 29 corridor improvement projects that were approved by the Commonwealth Transportation Board in its annual update of the Six-Year Improvement Program.
Ground crews will establish survey points at numerous locations, including along the proposed alignment for an extension of Hillsdale Drive between Hydraulic Road and Holiday Drive in the city of Charlottesville, along the proposed alignment for an extension of Berkmar Drive between Hilton Heights Road and Town Center Drive, and along Route 29 between Polo Grounds Road and Ashwood Boulevard and in the area around the Rio Road intersection. The survey crews will also locate subsurface utilities within these project areas.
During this work large white markers will be placed on the ground at various locations that will be used as targets during aerial mapping of the project alignments. It is important for the accuracy of the mapping that the targets not be disturbed.
Drilling crews will be investigating the subsurface geology in those areas during the coming weeks. That work will involve small mobile drilling rigs that are used to bore deep below the surface and extract core samples of the soil. Those cores are analyzed to provide information about the soil conditions that are likely to be found during construction.
Environmental survey crews will survey the project sites to investigate potential environmental
effects associated with the project. That work may include wetland delineations, noise monitoring, cultural resource surveys and hazardous waste investigations.
More information about the proposed Route 29 improvement projects can be found on VDOT’s website,www.virginiadot.org/projects/route_29_solutions.asp
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Chris Graham
