Worsham Road reopens, repair complete

The work is finished, at least for now. As of Tuesday, June 11, the detour signs have been lifted and for the first time in six months, residents are able to drive the full length of Worsham Road. Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) officials wrapped up their bridge repair work this week, mentioning there’s still at least one piece left to finish.

“We are going to follow up and do some asphalt work overtop the new structure, but it would be done under a flagging operation,” said VDOT engineer Scott Frederick. He told Prince Edward supervisors during their June 11 meeting that the replacement was successful, to the point it should be the last work done on that piece of road for a while.

“The public won’t feel any more road closures out there for a long time,” Frederick said. “The structure we replaced had a weight limit and was way past its useful life.”

The work has been in the works for some time, with VDOT securing money from the state to do the replacement in their latest budget. While it had not been labeled as critical and was still safe to drive on, the bridge at Briery Creek was one of several that VDOT put new restrictions on, starting in 2019.

Originally, any vehicles carrying up to 27 tons of weight could cross. That got reduced to 19 tons in this case, one of six bridges in Prince Edward County to have the change put in place, due to safety concerns. The Worsham Road bridge, along with thousands of others in Virginia, were built before two major changes. Hauling vehicles over the last decade have developed to carry much heavier loads than the bridges were originally designed for.

As for the repaving work, expect that to last for a couple days. The goal is to have it finished this week and the road fully clear.

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