Nelson street bridge to close for repairs

By Scott Voelker

Area drivers will have to navigate around more construction come March, when city officials close the Nelson Street bridge for repairs. Starting the first of the month, those who usually use the bridge will have to take Washington Street to get into or out of downtown.

This roadwork comes on the heels of the VMI construction, which has caused traffic congestion in the northern part of town for the past several weeks. Unlike that work, however, this project involves closing the road to through traffic.

According to City Manager Jon Ellestad, some work needs to be done to keep the bridge connecting H&J Tire to Washington and Lee's Davidson Park safe and usable.

Info graphic by Kaylee Hartung (click to enlarge)

Traffic will be redirected while the bridge is closed.

“We’ve been suffering some deterioration to its structure,” he said.
The bridge’s expansion joints need replacing -- a project that will take several weeks, said Ellestad. The job involves taking the top layer off the bridge, replacing the worn-out joints, and relaying an asphalt overlay.

Ellestad said this is the first step in what will be an eventual “major renovation or replacement” of the bridge, although it will most likely be another 10 years before that project begins. The funding for such projects, which Ellestad said would be used to pay for the overhaul, has already been earmarked for other improvements through 2010, and several years’ funds must be saved before the work can begin.

For now, however, the city’s main concern is dealing with the traffic during next month’s bridge closing. Police Chief Bruce Beard said officials are anticipating a lot more cars on Washington Street and they are taking measures to prepare for the changing patterns.

The main issue, according to Beard, is going to be the number of trucks on narrow Washington Street. While officials are hoping vehicular traffic will find a variety of other routes, they expect that many more trucks will be using Washington Street during these weeks than in an average month.

Because there is an increased chance of trucks passing one another on the narrow street, city officials are taking out 14 parking spaces at various portions of the road. With more of the larger trucks using Washington Street, “it could be pretty tight,” Beard said.

According to Lexington Public Works Director David Woody, four parking spaces located in front of W&L’s Early-Fielding building, four spots in front of the Rockbridge Weekly office, and five spaces in front of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house will be no-parking zones throughout March.

Photo by Scott Voelker

The new traffic light at the corner of Washington and Randolph streets

“We need to provide as much width as we can for [the trucks],” Woody said.

The city also installed a traffic light at the former two-way stop at Washington and Randolph streets to help control traffic flow. The light was originally slated to be put up in the fall, however, officials moved up the date so to help with the increased traffic in March. According to Beard, the police and other officials will monitor the situation and recommend any more neccesary parking space removals once the construction begins.

So what does this mean for getting around in Lexington? Maybe slight delays with longer lines at stoplights and possibly an extra turn or two.

“It’s going to be different for a month,” said Beard. “[But] once that’s complete that’ll be a whole lot safer bridge.”

Produced by Washington and Lee journalism students.

Lead supervisor:      Prof. Claudette Artwick

Reporting supervisor: Prof. Doug Cumming

Editing supervisor:  Prof. Pamela Luecke

Technical supervisor:  Michael Todd