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VDOT: single overnight closure likely to replace damaged beam on I‑81 bridge near Woodstock
Summary
VDOT told the Shenandoah County Board the North Street (Route 604) bridge suffered structural damage after a Sept. 2025 truck strike; emergency beam replacement contract awarded Jan. 9 with a contractor planning a single overnight closure (visual target March 7) and broad detour and communications plans.
Virginia Department of Transportation incident manager Jeff Boyer briefed supervisors Jan. 13 on emergency repairs after a dump truck struck a beam on the Route 604 (North Street) bridge in Woodstock in September 2025. Engineers later found structural, not merely cosmetic, damage to an outside beam, Boyer said. "That is just one beam damaged," he said, and contractors now aim to remove the old beam and set a new one in a single closure.
VDOT awarded the emergency beam replacement contract on Jan. 9 to Caton Construction Group of Charlottesville. Boyer said the contractor's current visual target for the single closure is March 7 and that the work will likely require a full southbound I‑81 closure for an estimated 10–18 hours; VDOT is attempting to complete removal and installation in one operation to avoid two separate closures.
The county and VDOT have coordinated response plans with local law enforcement and towns. Boyer said the county EOC will be staged at the Shenandoah County Sheriff's Office during the closure, and neighboring counties will partially stand up their EOCs virtually. Planned detours will use Route 11 and Route 42 corridor connections; Boyer warned that the detour corridors will have limited capacity and drivers can expect congestion. VDOT also said it will run a broad communication campaign aimed at long‑distance travelers and trucking groups to reduce local disruption.
Supervisors asked whether the closure window could be adjusted to minimize traffic disruption; Boyer said the contractor is finalizing a constructability plan and that the March date is a visual target, with exact timing dependent on contractor planning and crane and subcontractor coordination. No formal board action was required; VDOT said staff would share schedule updates by email to county contacts once a firm start time is set.
