DATE: Wednesday, September 24, 1997         TAG: 9709240436

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B4   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LIZ SZABO, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                        LENGTH:   35 lines

CHESAPEAKE OKS BYPASS, DRAWBRIDGE

The Chesapeake City Council on Tuesday approved the design for a bypass to Cedar Road in Deep Creek and authorized construction of a wider, faster drawbridge at the Great Bridge Locks.

Construction work on the Cedar Road bypass is scheduled to begin in the fall of 1998 and conclude in the summer of 2000, city engineer D. Ray Stout said. The $13.8 million project includes improvements to Cedar Road as well.

The new road, to be located between Dominion Boulevard and Shipyard Road, will not contain bicycle lanes, although several participants at recent public hearings had requested them. The bypass will initially have only two lanes but will eventually be expanded to six, according to a memorandum from John A. O'Connor, director of public works.

O'Connor told the council that about 66 percent of drivers who now use Cedar Road would take the bypass instead.

The City Council also voted to give the city manager permission to work with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on a new $27 million drawbridge on Virginia Route 168 at the Intracoastal Waterway. The two-lane drawbridge will be replaced with a five-lane version.

The federal government is providing more than $22.4 million for the project, while Chesapeake will chip in more than $4.5 million, Stout said. The project also will expand South Battlefield Boulevard to five lanes north and south of the locks, from Kempsville Road to Johnstown Road.

The current drawbridge will remain open during construction, Stout said.

The new bridge will open and close more quickly than the current one, said Mary Ann Saunders, assistant to the city manager.

Stout said the road project will displace five businesses near the Great Locks. Bridge construction is scheduled to begin in 1999 and finish in 2001.

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