By John Allgood

U.S. Route 11 squeezes traffic flowing through the north end of downtown Lexington into two narrow lanes flanked by two narrower parking lanes. An imposing stone wall of the Virginia Military Institute runs along the west side. VMI’s football field, indoor rifle range and other combat arenas stand close by on the east side.

The narrow stretch of Route 11 which will be closed is

lined with cars. Photo by Cole Boyle

Nearly 10,000 vehicles thread this stretch of Route 11 every day, according to Virginia Department of Transportation official Bob Ball. Starting in early December, that bottleneck will be half as wide for an entire year.

The northbound lane and the east-side parking lane will be closed to make room for what VMI project manager Turner Perrow calls “major league utility work.”

The $5.5 million project, which will add new storm culverts and underground utility lines near Route 11, will allow traffic to flow in both directions, but only in the west-side parking lane and the southbound lane.
“I’m sure it will stay down to two lanes for the duration of the project,” said Perrow. Traffic should continue to flow as usual, he said.
During the closure, Lexington-based Charles W. Barger and Sons Construction Co. will bury utility lines along Route 11 and replace the storm drainage system that parallels Route 11 to the east.

The utility wires, which will be placed under the east-side parking lane, are being buried for cosmetic and safety reasons. Perrow says the hanging wires are an eyesore, and leaving them would be dangerous for crews bringing in new culverts for the drainage system.

During heavy rainfall, the existing 86-year-old culvert backs up and causes serious flooding, according to Perrow.

Crews will replace the culvert with two much larger ones. The old culvert is approximately 4 feet by 4.5 feet. The new culverts will measure 6 feet by 4 feet.

“You can stand inside of the new pipes,” Perrow said.
The city will move existing water and sewer lines from Brook Lane to make space for VMI’s new culverts, according to Davis Woody, director of Lexington Public Works.

These two projects are a part of VMI’s $175-million capital improvements project. Most recently, the school completed renovations to the barracks and academic buildings, according to Bradford Archer, the VMI project manager in charge of those renovations.
 

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