Motorists on George Washington Memorial Highway (Route 17) in Grafton can expect nighttime traffic stops of up to 15 to 20 minutes beginning at 7 p.m. daily this week at the intersection of Ella Taylor Road as crews work to install a temporary traffic signal.
The traffic stops are scheduled through the week, though the work is dependent on the weather. Rain could push the installation — and the delays — to further in the week.
The stops will last as long as it takes to stretch a wire across the roadway, a project expected to be completed within the week. The temporary signal won’t be activated for a few weeks, according to the Route 17 widening project page on the Virginia Department of Transportation’s website.
Eventually a permanent signal will replace the temporary signal at the intersection. The intersection had a permanent signal from before the widening project began, but it must be removed to provide space for the widened road.
The $25.2 million Route 17 widening project, which will widen the road to six lanes from Hampton Highway to Wolf Trap Road, has been under construction since July 2013, with work slated to finish by December 2016. The project is split into three phases. Phase one, which runs from Hampton Highway to near the AMF York Lanes, is under construction now with a targeted completion date of February.
A major component of phase one is the demolition of the two bridges over the Poquoson River and the construction of a single replacement bridge to handle all six lanes of travel and a shared-use path. The northbound lanes of the bridge are complete, and work is now underway on the southbound lanes.
The shared-use path will run parallel to the northbound lanes from Mill Road to Showalter Road.
There are currently about 56,000 vehicles per day on Route 17 in York County, and that number is projected to grow to about 90,000 by the mid 2030s, according to the Route 17 widening project page on VDOT’s website.
The speed limit on the portion of road contained within the project has been lowered to 35 mph until the widening is completed.
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