Beginning November 10, Dry Mill Road (Route 699) in Clarkes Gap will have alternating single-lane traffic on weekdays as part of a bridge rehabilitation project. The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) announced that the lane closures will occur from Monday, November 10 through Friday, November 14, and again from Monday, November 17 through Friday, November 21. The flagging operation will take place between 9 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. each day just east of the intersection with Route 9 (Charles Town Pike) and Route 7 Business (Colonial Highway).
“The planned multi-week full closure of Dry Mill Road at the bridge that was originally scheduled to begin Oct. 24 remains postponed indefinitely; the closure dates will be announced once they are confirmed,” VDOT stated.
The Washington & Old Dominion Trail, which passes under the bridge, will remain open throughout construction. For safety reasons, an existing protective canopy on the trail at the bridge is being extended outward. Trail users may experience temporary stoppages at the bridge lasting no more than fifteen minutes.
The affected structure is a masonry stone arch bridge dating back to the nineteenth century and last rehabilitated in 2006. It currently has a weight restriction of twenty-seven tons.
The ongoing rehabilitation work includes installing a strengthening system for the stone arch to remove current weight restrictions, repairing spandrel walls and stone masonry, upgrading parapets, adding slope protection along with new guardrails and end treatments, washing the bridge, and repaving up to one hundred feet of roadway approaches on either side.
For updated information about traffic conditions or work zones related to this project or others in Virginia, residents can visit https://511.vdot.virginia.gov/, use the free mobile app “511Virginia,” or call 511 anywhere in Virginia.
