Repair of the Gwynn’s Island bridge will be the topic of an information meeting for the public from 5-7 p.m. Tuesday at the Mathews Volunteer Rescue Squad, Cricket Hill Road, Hudgins.
Officials with the Virginia Department of Transportation will be available to share project plans, maps, and documents, and to address questions about the $2.9 million project, said a press release. No formal presentation will be given.
The bridge rehabilitation project is scheduled to begin in the spring of 2013 and conclude later that year, said the release. During construction, traffic on Route 223 will be reduced to one lane on the bridge, with each lane taking turns crossing the bridge in a single open travel lane. Temporary signals will be placed at each end of the bridge to control traffic, and vehicles wider than 10 feet will not be allowed to cross the bridge.
During construction, deteriorated elements in the bridge truss, floor system, steel grid deck, rest piers, and tender house will be replaced or rehabilitated, said the release. The goal of the project is to increase the weight of vehicles allowed to cross the bridge, which is currently posted with a weight limit of 25 tons for tractor-trailers.
For more information, visit www.virginiadot.org/projects/fredericksburg/route_223_cricket_hill_road_bridge_rehabilitation_project.asp.
The bridge
The Route 223 bridge over Milford Haven was constructed in 1938, and the beams have never been replaced. The swing span grid was replaced in 1963, steel repairs were performed in 1983 and 1984, machinery was upgraded in 1985, and the swing span movement levers were upgraded in 1994. Over the years, there has also been work on the tender’s house, the piers, the railing, and the concrete roadwork.
The swing span moveable bridge has two travel lanes and is 732 feet long and 25.9 feet wide. It is the only roadway crossing over Milford Haven from the mainland to the island. An average of 2,215 vehicles a day cross the bridge.
Last October, VDOT announced that the bridge had a number of holes in its deteriorating stringer system, and that the weight would have to be restricted to 10 tons for single-unit vehicles such as cars, trucks and buses and 15 tons for tractor-trailers until repairs could be made.
The bridge provides the only land access to the island, and residents there objected to the weight limits, saying they were too restrictive for a variety of business reasons. They appealed to the Mathews Board of Supervisors, VDOT, and former Virginia Del. Harvey B. Morgan. After Morgan interceded, VDOT developed a temporary repair to raise the weight limit to 25 tons for tractor-trailers. That work was completed in December.