As of July 8, through traffic on Hydraulic Road is closed while contractors work on the construction of a roundabout. If you’ve driven anywhere in Charlottesville recently, you’ve probably noticed the wealth of ongoing road work while sitting in heavier-than-usual traffic. Here are the latest updates on the construction status and detours for local motorists and pedestrians:
By far the largest ongoing project is at Hydraulic Road and U.S. Route 29. According to Virginia Department of Transportation Project Manager Will Stowe, construction on the roundabout at the intersection of Hydraulic Road and Hillsdale Drive is on schedule despite the extreme heat, with drainage work and the removal of old signal poles already completed.
Crews are working in two shifts six days a week on the project to finish by the August 13 deadline.
“They’re working almost 24/7 during the daylight hours,” says Stowe. “We are giving the guys a break on Sunday, but we’re working six days a week besides that to try to get this back open to the public.”
“There’s quite a lot of concrete that needs to go down. We’re probably about 80 percent done with the splitter islands [pavement that separates a roundabout’s entrances and exits] currently. So right on schedule,” says Stowe. Some of that concrete will be poured in the second week of construction as crews work on the center island of the roundabout and install light poles.
During project planning, the detour was intentionally scheduled to end before the influx of traffic from the University of Virginia’s move-in weekend and the start of the school year in Charlottesville and Albemarle County. “The roundabout will be functional with all lanes of traffic open in the roundabout configuration. … It won’t be the final pavement, but it should be a smooth intermediate layer with good pavement markings. Also, the pedestrian facility should be completed around the roundabout.”
While work is ongoing, roughly 35,000 vehicles per day are being detoured from Hydraulic Road, according to VDOT. Traffic signal timings have been adjusted at several lights around the detour to accommodate the temporary traffic pattern, but some congestion is still occurring during rush hour windows.
“It’s really a balancing act of managing the traffic that was there before the detour and adding the additional traffic to it,” says Stowe.
VDOT does not currently have official information about the extent of delays. Anecdotally, traffic is moving well at off hours, but there is some backup in the detour areas during peak flow hours of 9am, noon, and 5pm on Route 29.
Motorists coming off of the 250 Bypass traveling westward who would normally use Hydraulic Road have been detoured to the next available exits for 29 North and 29 South. Traffic traveling eastbound from Route 29 looking to use the bypass can use the entrances by Angus Road at the intersection of Route 250 and Emmet Street.
Access to both Whole Foods and the Kroger shopping area has also been affected by the detour. To get to Whole Foods, shoppers can either use Zan or India roads to access Hillsdale Drive or pass through the rerouted one-way side entrance from the east side of Hydraulic Road. Kroger and its surrounding stores are still accessible by Hydraulic Road in both directions through Kroger Way and the turn-in on 29 North.
According to Stowe, VDOT has been coordinating with both grocery stores and other businesses for more than a year to maintain access during the detour.
“Back when we first were procuring a contractor and designer for the project, we sat down with both Kroger and Whole Foods and some of the businesses along Hydraulic,” says Stowe.
The size and frequency of the semi-truck deliveries were also factored into the design of the roundabout itself.
Beyond the roundabout, improvements to Route 29 and Hydraulic Road also include signal and traffic pattern adjustments and the construction of a pedestrian bridge crossing Route 29.
“We’re currently building some retaining walls for [the pedestrian bridge], and we’ll start doing some drilled shafts here later in August,” says Stowe. “We’ll be working on that after the roundabout is completed. … When we go to hang the girders for the pedestrian bridge, we will have some overnight closures for traffic for about 20 minutes, but that’ll be probably a year down the road from now, so nothing to anticipate in the near future.”
For more information about the project and detours, visit vdot.virginia.gov.
“We are giving the guys a break on Sunday, but we’re working six days a week besides that to try to get this back open to the public.”