A month of single-lane closures on the James River Bridge has concluded following the completion of a project to install studs on the bridge’s grid deck, returning operations to normal.
The studs were identified by a three-month safety investigation as the best way to help lower an uptick in accidents on the bridge’s grid deck. The increase in accidents began three months after a new grid deck was installed on the bridge in December, with 20 of 22 crashes on the bridge through July 2013 occurring on the deck including one that left an Isle of Wight County woman dead.
Crews from Corman Construction finished the installation of the 120,000 studs Oct. 11, more than three weeks ahead of the scheduled completion date of Nov. 1. All of the lanes on the bridge have reopened to traffic, though bridge test lifts are being planned to test the counterbalance weights on the bridge following the stud installation. A schedule for those tests has not yet been released.
The studs cost $897,000, which is nearly $100,000 more than the original estimate. Motorists experienced delays on the bridge during day and night except during rush hour when all lanes were open to traffic.
In addition to the stud installation, the Virginia Department of Transportation lowered the speed limit on the bridge from 55 mph to 45 mph during inclement weather. The overhead electronic message board signs on the bridge have been set to communicate the reduced speed limit to motorists, while Virginia State Police troopers are present on the bridge during inclement weather.
The majority of the crashes happened in wet weather on the southbound lanes of the bridge, which carry motorists from Newport News to Isle of Wight County. Most of the crashes involved a light truck or a sport utility vehicle.
The studs were one of four potential options reviewed by VDOT engineers. The other options were roughening the surface of the grid deck, the addition of 2-foot wide concrete strips beneath the concrete wheel lines and the application of a metal coating to the surface of the grid deck. An analysis of the grid deck by VDOT found no structural deficiencies or abnormalities.
If the studs don’t end up curtailing the rise in crashes, VDOT engineers have identified traffic calming measures as a potential way of mitigating crashes. Those include painting lines in lanes in the shape of an arrow pointing forward that are supposed to create a psychological feeling of increased speed and thermoplastic rumble strips that are noisy and bumpy.
The new grid deck was installed during the James River Bridge Grid Deck Replacement Project. During that project, repairs were made to the substructure of the grid deck and counterweights on the lift mechanism were adjusted. That project cost $3.8 million, though 80 percent of that money came from federal funds.
The James River Bridge is 4.5 miles long, making it Virginia’s longest state-maintained bridge. It opened in 1928 as the original connecter between the Peninsula and the Southside, though the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel and the Monitor-Merrimac Bridge Tunnel have since joined the James River Bridge.
The original bridge was two lanes but has since been widened to a four-lane bridge with a lift span in the center to permit maritime traffic to access the James River. The bridge carries Route 17, Route 32 and Route 258.
Almost 1 million vehicles use the bridge each month, which VDOT bills as “a smart alternative when the tunnels are congested,” according to VDOT’s website.
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