STAFFORD COUNTY, Va. – North Stafford’s main road is getting wider.
Since April, crews have been working to widen Va. 610 at Joshua Road at a projected cost of $9.1 million.
The two-lane street will become a four lane road complete with turn lanes at all sides of the Joshua Road intersection.
Currently westbound drivers on Va. 610 hit a bottleneck just before Joshua Road, where the thoroughfare goes from four lanes to two. Crews say the wider road will be easier to navigate.
The area has long been known for crashes, said project manager Kelly Kent, and the improvements should help drivers in the area.
“There’s been many mornings when we arrive here to the construction site and the police have flares set up because of a crash that happened earlier,” said Kent. “During the day, the sheriff’s cruiser will come through here and ask us if he can sit in the area to slow cars, and we think it’s better and safer for us with him here then without.”
A church and a residential neighborhood sit at the intersection.
Kent’s crews are still in the process of relocating underground utility lines such as water and electric. But large construction machines have moved earth and laid gravel where the new lanes will go.
The traffic pattern where westbound drivers enter the construction area was changed last month. Orange cones were put in place to shift traffic from the right side of the road to the left, forcing east and westbound drivers to temporarily share the same side of the road.
The 45 mph speed limit has also been temporarily been reduced in the area.
The project is scheduled to be completed in August 2011.
In 2008, Va. 610 was widened from four lanes to six between Staffordboro Boulevard and Dunn Drive.
The Virginia Department of Transportation estimates that portion of Va. 610 will carry 85,000 cars per day by 2014.
