A history of roads in Virginia: Major highways projects in new century

The new Woodrow Wilson Bridge across the Potomac River replaces the original bridge completed in 1961.

While new projects were fewer in the early 2000s, some major road projects continued. The reconstruction of the Springfield interchange for I-95, I-395 and I-495 in Northern Virginia required building 50 bridges and widening I-95 to 24 lanes on one segment. Another was replacing the aging Woodrow Wilson Bridge, which carries I-95 across the Potomac River, and reconstruction of 7.5 miles of approaches to it.

Completed in 2005, the Pinners Point Interchange, with a 1.5-mile bridge over the Elizabeth River, reduced traffic in the Port Norfolk neighborhood by 80 percent and provided a direct route to the Portsmouth Marine Terminal. The Lynchburg-Madison Heights Bypass, opened in 2006, provided an alternative to heavily congested Route 29 between Lynchburg and Amherst.

Widening Virginia’s longest highway, Route 58, which stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to the southwest tip of the state, continued. The western loop around Richmond, Route 288, was completed in 2004, and economic development followed closely. Environmental enhancements, including underpasses for animals to safely cross the road, accompanied the relocation of Route 17 in Chesapeake completed in 2005.

The progress of highways in Virginia during the last century came at great human costs as well as monetary ones. Consequently, a VDOT Workers’ Memorial was dedicated in 2004 to honor state highway workers who died of work-related causes.The memorial, supported entirely by donations from employees and many others, was built within a scenic pull-off on I-64 on Afton Mountain. Its centerpiece is a monument with names of more than 130 employees who have died since 1928.