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FRANKLIN

Contractor crews for the Virginia Department of Transportation will begin a culvert replacement project as early as June 22 on General Thomas Highway (Route 671) between the intersections of Handsom Road (Route 734) and Shady Brook Trail (Route 650) just outside of Franklin.

According to Nina Ullrich, a VDOT spokeswoman, the three-pipe culvert currently in place will be replaced with a double-barreled box culvert and once complete, will also include paved shoulders and a guardrail system.

Starting as early as July, approximately 1.5 miles of General Thomas Highway will be closed for the duration of the culvert replacement project with signed detours in place directing traffic to Southampton Parkway (U.S. Route 58) and Plank Road (Route 35).

Motorists will be advised in advance of additional closures and detour details that may occur during the project. The estimated completion date is fall 2020, and all construction work is dependent upon weather conditions.

This culvert replacement project on General Thomas Highway will be completed before a separate bridge replacement planned for fall 2020, which will replace two existing structurally-deficient bridges over the Nottoway River with two new bridges that meet current design standards. The bridge replacement is expected to cause single-lane closures periodically, which are estimated to occur from fall 2020 through early winter 2021. A detour is estimated to be in place early winter 2021 until fall 2022.