VIRGINIA BEACH — Entering Virginia Beach from Norfolk on the interstate can be inconspicuous to drivers who look to green signs with miles, arrows and street names to guide the way.
The city plans to change that and flex its resort city aesthetic with a new flyover, featuring a familiar font that reads “Welcome to Virginia Beach” as part of the Commonwealth’s I-64/I-264 interchange improvements project.
“Greenwich Road is going to be relocated at the Witchduck Road intersection,” city project manager Norbert Kuhn said. “It’s going to go over the interstate and tie into Cleveland Street.”
Connecting these roadways gives Virginia Beach a chance to distinguish itself with a gateway. Along with a welcome sign, the flyover will feature a colored texture, wave-shaped patterns on its sides, LED lights, shrubs, trees and a nearby plaza.
The design was chosen based on a study last year that measured different aesthetics using a hierarchical level system.
“[Level] one was a VDOT standard bridge, which would include no bridge aesthetics whatsoever, and a level five which would be a signature bridge, which would have something like a cable-span,” Kuhn said. “We were looking at something in the middle and that’s how this design had come about and was presented to city council.”
Kuhn said city council approved the design last year and it is reflected in VDOT’s final plans for the I-64/I-264 interchange improvements phase II. The flyover’s last cost estimate was $1.9 million, including the plaza area.
“VDOT will provide up to 5 percent of the structure’s construction costs for aesthetic treatments,” VDOT spokesperson Dave Forster said. “Beyond that, the city covers the costs.”
Kuhn said VDOT would not cover the cover the cost of the plaza area and ground improvements to the plaza area, which is on the Greenwich Road side of the flyover, could cause the cost estimate to become higher. That leaves VDOT’s share at $650,000.
VDOT will begin advertising for construction bids for the project this summer, according to Forster.
Kuhn said VDOT estimates the project to be complete by winter of 2021.
“I can’t tell you what’s going to happen tomorrow, but we are anticipating to build this … we have the funding available to move forward with it,” Kuhn said. “This is something that the city wanted and something the state has incorporated in its final plans.”
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