Parkway on Verge of Reopening at Powhatan Bridge

By Matt Poms Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Nearly a year after a late-night barge accident closed a key bridge carrying Colonial Parkway over Powhatan Creek, the road is set to reopen after renovation and repair. The Colonial National Historical Park, which operates Colonial Parkway, expects that the Powhatan Creek Bridge will open late next week, with an official announcement expected Monday.

“Everything we’ve heard is that [the] Federal Highway [Administration, which has conducted the repair] is progressing very nicely and is in the very final stages,” park spokesman James Perry said. “[The bridge] will be back to restore the park as it was originally envisioned, having that special drive between Jamestown and Yorktown.”

The bridge closing, which affected the structure just outside of Jamestown, had forced drivers to exit Colonial Parkway onto Route 199 and take an alternate route to the historic settlement.

After the accident took place last July 24, the closure was expected to last around four months, but delays pushed repair into the spring. Concrete was poured to repair the damaged bridge supports in March, and the FHA is putting the final touches on the project this week.

Road signs and other features would then have to be restored before the bridge was made available to drivers.

“All of those traffic safety things need to be in place, and it’s just a matter of getting the greenlight on that,” Perry said. “It’s been a bit of an unusual project in that it’s the [FHA’s] project, and we’re kind of like the homeowner where they come in and work on it.”

Because the highest visitation period for Historic Jamestown is usually in the spring, Perry did not believe that the settlement had lost too much visitor traffic to the closing, but said that visitation was still down in 2010.

“Overall, our visitation has been down at both Jamestown and Yorktown, so we don’t necessarily attribute that to the bridge; visitation in the area is down,” he said. “But we don’t think we’ve lost any visitation because the bridge is closed.”

Regardless, the national park is eagerly anticipating the reopening.

“Our maintenance yard is just on the other side of the Powhatan Creek Bridge from Jamestown, so those folks will have a lot easier time going back and forth,” Perry said. “And then the Historic Triangle shuttle bus will be back to its regular route. It will restore things to the way it was always planned to be for Jamestown and the Park. We’re definitely looking forward to that day.”