Construction starts on Hunterdale Road

Published 10:58 am Wednesday, April 30, 2014

FRANKLIN—VDOT has contracted with local company Curtis Construction to begin a widening project of Hunterdale Road, from Clay Street to the railroad tracks.

Curtis Construction of Zuni has been awarded a $1.9 million VDOT contract to widen Hunterdale Road. The detour will be in place until the project’s completion. -- CAIN MADDEN | TIDEWATER NEWS

Curtis Construction of Zuni has been awarded a $1.9 million VDOT contract to widen Hunterdale Road. The detour will be in place until the project’s completion. — CAIN MADDEN | TIDEWATER NEWS

City Manager Randy Martin said it was originally planned to go all the way to Hunterdale, but delays and financing limited it. He also said to plan your routes carefully, as there will be detours and it could be inconvenient while the work is going on.

If you are coming from College Drive onto Hunterdale Road, the detour takes you down Clay Street to 58 Business and then to Delaware Road, which connects back with Hunterdale Road. If you are headed from Hunterdale to College Drive, the detour takes you from North Drive to Crescent Drive, down Fair View to High Street, from High Street to Lee Street, and then back to Clay Street.

Project lead inspector Mitchel Goodman with VDOT said the detour would not change until the project’s completion. The completion date is set for Nov. 14.

“The way things work out, we may be done sooner than that,” he said. “With the way weather works and some other inputs, it could go past that. I don’t want it to, but it could.”

The project costs a total of $1.9 million, and of that, Franklin is paying $16,000. Additionally, Franklin is adding approximately $280,000 for water and sewer improvements.

The road improvements will widen the road 10 feet. Each lane will be widened 1-foot, and 4-foot wide multi-purpose paths will also be created alongside the road.

The water and sewer improvements will place additional connections and also upgrade the mains from 6- to 10-inch pipe.

“That’ll have a positive impact on water pressure,” Martin said.