VDOT reports paving, bridge and pipe projects under way across Gloucester County

The Gloucester County Board of Supervisors heard a quarterly project update from the Virginia Department of Transportation on roadway resurfacing, bridge work and drainagepipe replacements across the county.

Lee McKnight, VDOT’s presenter, told the board “there’s a lot of paving going on throughout the county in Gloucester,” and listed recently completed and planned resurfacing and surface-treatment routes. He said several projects are on multi-month schedules and gave projected completion windows for major works.

McKnight said the Route 1716 intersection safety improvement project is underway with a projected completion date of late December 2025 and that a Route 17 safety-improvement project at Woods Cross Road (the Route 17 at Fox First/shop location) is projected to start in October 2025. He also reported bridge work: the Route 314 Birk Mill Stream bridge rehabilitation project is underway, with late-fall 2025 projected completion, and a Route 17 northbound bridge replacement over Dragon Run at the Gloucester–Middlesex county line is expected to begin in early 2026.

The official described several pipe-replacement jobs: two pipe replacements on Route 614 in the State Forest area (one completed, one started this week) and a failing pipe on Route 198 that has been scheduled for replacement in the coming weeks. McKnight said those pipe repairs are being done “ahead of the resurfacing schedule.”

Supervisors and McKnight also discussed pavement types for local roads. A supervisor asked whether roads in subdivisions ever receive full asphalt instead of cape-seal surface treatments; McKnight replied that selection depends on existing pavement condition and cost. “Cape Seal is cheaper than asphalt, so we’re able to get more lane miles out of a Cape Seal as opposed to asphalt,” he said, adding that very poor base conditions sometimes make asphalt the better option.

Board members asked about a bank embankment near the old movie-theater site along Route 14; McKnight said VDOT is working with county staff on a slope repair there and coordinating around an existing utility or pump station. A supervisor praised recent work on Wearneck Road (referred to in remarks as “Wernick Road”) and asked about the shoulder stone placed after paving; McKnight said shoulder stone or millings are used to reduce drop-offs from the newly raised pavement to adjacent shoulders and to give drivers a better recovery surface.

No formal board action was taken; the presentation was an informational update and McKnight took questions from supervisors.

The board’s questions highlighted local concerns about pavement choice, coordination of resurfacing with utility projects and repairs to slopes and drainage structures.