The Virginia Department of Transportation will hold a public hearing concerning the replacement of the Opequon Creek bridge on Route 761 (Old Charles Town Road) in Clarke County.
The meeting will take place from 4 to 6 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 19, at the Snowden Bridge Community Center, 119 Buccaneer Court, Stephenson.
Citizens can come in during the meeting hours and discuss the project on a one-on-one basis with VDOT officials and designers. Written comments can be submitted at the meeting or within 10 days after the meeting date to Mr. Keith Harrop, P.E., Project Manager. Virginia Department of Transportation, 811 Commerce Road, Staunton, VA 24401-9029.
Oral comments can be recorded at the meeting with the assistance of a court reporter
The Route 761 bridge at Opequon Creek is located at the Clarke and Frederick county line. The bridge structure has reached the end of its service life and is functionally obsolete. This means that the current bridge was built according to design features and standards that no longer meet current geometrics or traffic needs.
The 93-year-old bridge is a frequently flooded, low-water structure that carries a single lane of traffic along a two-way highway. The current length of the bridge is 79 feet and the roadway width is 18.39 feet. In 2020, the average daily traffic was of 1,870 vehicles per day.
A new, two-lane bridge is proposed to replace the current bridge. The new bridge will be roughly 5 feet higher in elevation.
This project is about 0.26 miles long and extends from 0.130 miles west of the Clarke County line to 0.148 miles east of the Clarke County line.
During construction, traffic will be detoured 8.3 miles using Route 11 (Martinsburg Pike) and Route 672 (Brucetown Road).
The total estimated cost for this project is $4,355,591, including $500,382 for preliminary engineering, $200,000 for right of way, and $3,655,209 for construction.
Right of way activities will begin in summer 2022. Advertisement for construction will be in late 2023.
The VDOT Staunton District serves Frederick, Shenandoah, Clarke, Warren, Page, Rockingham, Augusta, Highland, Rockbridge, Alleghany and Bath counties.
Traffic alerts and traveler information can be obtained by dialing 511. Traffic alerts and traveler information also are available at 511Virginia.org. For other assistance call the VDOT Customer Service Center, available 24 hours-a-day, seven days a week. Citizens can dial 1-800-FOR- ROAD (1-800-367-7623) from anywhere in the state to report road hazards, ask transportation questions, or get information related to Virginia’s roads.
The Staunton District Twitter feed is at @VaDOTStaunton. VDOT can be followed on Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and YouTube. RSS feeds are also available for statewide information. The VDOT Web page is located at www.VirginiaDOT.org.
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Chris Graham
