Just before Christmas, crews with the Virginia Department of Transportation put the finishing touches on a three-and-a-half year project to widen a portion of Route 17 in York County.

As of Dec. 23, all lanes in the section of George Washington Memorial Highway between Hampton Highway and Wolf Trap Road reopened to traffic and the speed limit was raised back up to 45 mph after being lowered to 35 mph for several years, VDOT spokesperson Brittany McBride Nichols said.

To increase vehicle capacity and reduce congestion along a route that thousands of Middle Peninsula residents take for commuting to their jobs, the 2.8-mile corridor has been widened from four to six lanes, with three north- and southbound lanes.

Nichols said the new roadway also includes a raised median, curb and gutter, underwater stormwater piping, a new traffic detection system, and a shared-use path parallel to the northbound lane from Mill Road to Showalter Road. Two bridges over the Poquoson River were replaced w...