Canal Bridge Upgrade to Close Fall Hill Ave. for 10 Months

Work to replace the outdated Fall Hill Avenue bridge across the Rappahannock Canal could start as early as the second half of 2012, but would shut the road down for almost all of 2013, temporarily severing a heavily trafficked route between downtown Fredericksburg, Bragg Hill and areas west of I-95. 

 At a public information meeting last night, Doug Fawcett, director of Public Works for the city of Fredericksburg, along with representatives from Kimberly Horn Associates presented preliminary plans and timetables for a slate of upgrades to Fall Hill Ave. and an extension of Mary Washington Boulevard. 

The first priority at the moment is the replacement of the Fall Hill Avenue canal bridge, whose 18-ton weight limit prohibits Fredericksburg's larger fire and rescue vehicles from driving across it. 

Preliminary Canal Bridge Replacement Schedule -

• Present to mid-2012: complete engineering design and required environmental, historical resource impact surveys, acquire rights of way, obtain permits, prepare and award construction contract.
• Mid-2012 to December 2012: Contractors arrive on scene, perform all work not requiring closure of roadway.
• January to November 2013: Close Fall Hill Avenue to traffic, demolish existing bridge, construct new bridge.
• Target opening: Thanksgiving 2013

 The new $2.8 million two lane bridge will be built in the same footprint as the existing bridge. It will be slightly taller, 10 feet at the west end of the bridge, to allow for the Rappahannock Heritage Trail to run underneath it. The bridge would feature a sidewalk connecting to the Forrest Village Apartments. A new pedestrian bridge will be added upstream of the bridge to allow for easy access to the trail from an adjacent parking lot. 

"One cool aspect about this job is that it provides options for all three modes," said Brian McPeters, engineer with Kimberly Horn. "Other than that it's a pretty straightforward bridge design."

 Once Fall Hill Avenue is closed for construction, motorists seeking to get from the uptown side of Route 1 to Central Park will have to use a detour along Cowan Boulevard to reach the west side of I-95. 

 Fawcett also spoke about future plans to expand Fall Hill Avenue to four lanes from west of the Rappahannock Canal to Central Park and replacing and expanding the Fall Hill Avenue bridge across I-95. Those projects would run about $38 million,

 "We are not sure at this point that that will fund the entire project," said Fawcett. "If we have to scale it down…the first segment would be a bridge over i-95."

 Fawcett said that the Fall Hill Avenue widening and bridge replacement work probably wouldn't start until at least the middle of 2015. 

 "This is a very preliminary schedule," said Fawcett. "If all you're interested in is when you can drive on it, think new years day 2018."

 Fawcett said that one of the side benefits to replacing the bridge across I-95 is the potential to remove bridge beams  on the interstate median and shoulders which could allow for HOV lanes or local access roads to be added to the highway. 

Another project on the horizon is an extension of a four lane Mary Washington Boulevard to Fall Hill Avenue which city officials hope will become motorists preferred east-west route from uptown Fredericksburg. Engineers are considering using a roundabout to intersect the two streets. This project is perhaps the farthest one off because it would require a full federal environmental impact report to be filed with the Environmental Protection Agency.