Emergency repairs to the Falmouth Bridge are done, and the right lane of northbound Route 1 will reopen over the Rappahannock River between Fredericksburg and Stafford County on Friday.
The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) reduced northbound Route 1 to a single lane between Charles Street in Fredericksburg and Carter Street in Stafford on Nov. 1 for the emergency work. A recent inspection had found rapid deterioration among structural steel elements that supported the bridge deck in several areas. The single-lane closure reduced vehicle weight on the bridge and provided space for construction crews.
According to VDOT, the vehicle weight limit on the bridge has been upgraded to 27 tons for single-unit vehicles and 40 tons for tractor-trailers. The previous vehicle weight limit of 16 tons for single-unit vehicles and 24 tons for tractor-trailers instituted on Nov. 1 has been lifted. This change means that vehicles of all legal weights can cross the span again. Signs communicating the vehicle weight limit were being changed Tuesday.
All structural repair work for the project is complete. Crews will finish spot painting, which protects the structural steel from deterioration, this week and remove construction equipment and scaffolding before reopening the northbound travel lane.
The sidewalk along the northbound lanes of the bridge will reopen at the same time as the northbound right travel lane.
The Falmouth Bridge carries about 40,000 vehicles a day between Fredericksburg and Stafford and is part of the Route 1 alternate route for Interstate 95. The bridge opened to traffic in 1943, and truck traffic represents 1 to 2 percent of all traffic crossing it.
The bridge is inspected annually. Additionally, further inspection work was performed last summer to gather information to start design for a $86.2 million rehabilitation of the bridge.
The estimated $1.1 million emergency repair project was completed by Kokosing Construction Company Inc., and was designed by Whitman, Requardt and Associates LLP. It is being funded using state bridge maintenance funds.
