VDOT: Moving Day

Before the Chatham Bridge closed to traffic for a major improvement project, the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) needed to relocate some very important residents — cliff swallows.

The birds nest in the concrete niches under the bridge. For the safety of the nestlings, who cannot yet fly, VDOT environmental specialists Mark Haus and Stephen Sharpeta removed 100 cliff swallows and nine eggs from 42 nests on the bridge over the Rappahannock River in mid-June.

The relocation was carefully planned in coordination with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which issued a permit for the operation.

Using a “snooper” truck, which can extend a mechanical arm and basket under the bridge for work crews, the birds were carefully retrieved one by one from the nests by hand.

They were immediately taken to The Wildlife Center of Virginia in Waynesboro, where they will be cared for until they can be returned to the wild.

Freshwater mussels will also be relocated from the Rappahannock River before construction of the causeway begins. The mussel relocation is another part of VDOT’s project commitment to state and federal environmental agencies.

The Chatham Bridge connects Stafford County and downtown Fredericksburg and was closed to traffic on Monday, June 22. The bridge will reopen in October 2021.

Learn more about the project at virginiadot.org/chathambridge. Thanks go to project contractor Joseph B. Fay Co. for assisting with the cliff swallows retrieval effort.