New South Fork Bridge beam work – final 2 lanes going up

Support beams headed to the South Fork Bridge over the Shenandoah on Front Royal’s north side. Photos/Roger Bianchini

Traveling south on Route 522/340 into Front Royal at the end of January and early February, motorists have encountered support beams for the final two-lane section of the South Fork Bridge parked on the side of the road.

NOW we know it’s getting serious, as it was when we saw similar beam work to support the first four-lane section two years ago.

VDOT has said when completed later this year, the South Fork Bridge over the Shenandoah River on the north side of the Town of Front Royal will be the longest and widest bridge in VDOT’s Staunton District comprising much of the western and northwestern portion of the state.

Several views looking north from the west side of North Shenandoah Avenue offers the best view of beam placement for the final two lanes of what will be the grandest bridge in VDOT‘s Staunton District. Photo/Roger Bianchini

But about those traffic backups, sometimes well past the North Fork Bridge backing up toward the I-66 interchange – they are largely unnecessary, kids.

“Construction Ahead” does not necessarily translate into “Lane Closed” – and even when it does, this driver’s experience has been that the lane closure has been occurring at some distance, usually half way across the South Fork Bridge.

SO, how best to proceed?  Modern traffic theory being adopted in a number of states is that two lanes of traffic continuing to flow until a “Merge” sign appears shortly before the lane actually closes, followed by an orderly “Zipper Merge” facilitates the smoothest traffic flow with the least, unnecessary backup.

Photo/Roger Bianchini

What is a “Zipper Merge” you may ask – it is where each driver in the lane that remains open, allows one car from the closing lane in front of them.  And I know all you courteous Front Royal and Warren County drivers are perfectly capable of executing this maneuver.  In fact, having accomplished it along with the one or two other cars that have traveled the right lane to the “Merge” sign with me, I KNOW you can.

Having traveled southbound into Front Royal on Route 340/522 every day for a week and a half recently, following the above theory I know I have beaten some cars into town by a good 10 to 15 minutes.  And on a couple of those days the right lane NEVER did close and I made it all the way into town in a largely empty right lane.

So remember – be POLITE on the road, but don’t prematurely anticipate a lane closure; it’ll save you a lot of aggravation.

Photo/Roger Bianchini