Route 58 Project Kicks Off With Groundbreaking Ceremony

 

	Governor Northam and other officials at groundbreaking ceremony.

A groundbreaking ceremony took place Wednesday, September 29, to widen a 7.4-mile stretch of U.S. Route 58 in Patrick County. This is the first phase of the U.S. Route 58 Corridor Development Program.

Currently, the two-lane section of the highway over Lovers Leap Mountain is restricted to tractor-trailers, but that will change once improvements are completed under a November 2020 agreement between the Virginia Department of Transportation and Branch Civil Inc.

“Once the General Assembly prioritized funding for the project, the Virginia Department of Transportation and our partner Branch Civil used an innovative progressive design-build approach to refine the design and advance the project to construction,” state Commissioner of Highways Stephen Brich said in a statement. “This was the first time this contracting style was used in Virginia and supported a new level of engagement between the Virginia Department of Transportation and our contracting partner.”

The section set to be widened is between the Poor Farmers Farm Store in Vesta and the Route 58 Stuart Bypass, and there are two other parts of Route 58 that will be widened at a time to be determined, including a four-mile stretch in Vesta and a 7.2-mile section near Crooked Oak.