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MOTORISTS SHOULD PREPARE FOR TRAFFIC SHIFTS ON VIRGINIA BEACH BOULEVARD IN NORFOLK

NORFOLK — Motorists who travel on Virginia Beach Boulevard west of Military Highway in Norfolk should prepare for traffic shifts as Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) crews and Branscome Inc. begin work on Wednesday, February 13.

Last month, preliminary work started on the Virginia Beach widening project which will impact the highway from Jett Street to Briar Hill Road near the Military Highway (Route 13) interchange. The four-lane roadway will be widened to six-lanes with turn lanes and a raised median, modified signals and lighting. Project completion is scheduled for April 2010.

Crews will make asphalt repairs on the east and westbound service lanes beginning Wednesday, February 13 through Friday, February 15 from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Flaggers will direct traffic. No work is scheduled on the main line during this time.

Starting Monday, February 18 for the next six weeks, one of the two lanes in each direction of Virginia Beach Boulevard will be closed to traffic. The service lanes in both directions will be open to through traffic. This will allow contractors to work in the median. Right turns are only allowed from the service roads, and traffic on the main line will be restricted from merging into the service road lanes. Signs will be in place to alert motorists of the new traffic pattern. Once the project is completed, the service roads will be eliminated.

Highway safety is everyone’s responsibility. Virginia’s highway safety partnership — the Virginia Department of Transportation, Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles and Virginia State Police — challenges you to help prevent highway fatalities. Buckle up. Avoid distractions. Share the road. Drive drug- and alcohol-free. Obey speed limits. For up-to-date traffic and travel information, visit www.VirginiaDOT.org, call 511 or listen to 610AM.

Information in VDOT news releases was accurate at the time the release was published. For the most current information about projects or programs, please visit the project or program Web pages. You may find those by searching by keyword in the search Virginia DOT box above.