Changes Coming to a Major Road in Spotsylvania
Project to begin this fall is the start of many improvements to Harrison Road.
By Hank Silverberg
CORRESPONDENT
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Starting this fall, motorists can expect to see some changes along Harrison Road in Spotsylvania County, which may be only the beginning of substantial improvements to the road over the next decade.
A widening project will begin in September on a heavily travelled, one-tenth of a mile stretch between Old Plank Road and Gordon Road.
The stretch is a remnant of the old Harrison Road, lined with 13 houses, and it’s become a huge bottleneck of through traffic.
The project has exercised right-of-way over 21 parcels of land, and one building was demolished.
The Virginia Department of Transportation says the $11.2 million project will take about two years with a targeted completion date in the summer of 2026.
Harrison Road is used by many motorists as an alternative to Route 3 to get around Spotsylvania Town Centre and Central Park, an area that’s often congested at rush hour.
This section that will receive the first improvements adjoins the western end of Harrison Road where it has already been widened because of a collection of strip malls on Route 3.
The two-lane portion of the roadway will be widened to four lanes and sidewalks will be added, as well as pedestrian crossing equipment at intersections.
A 2022 traffic study shows between 13,000 and 17,000 vehicles a day using Harrison Road between Gordon Road and Old Plank Road and its eventual intersection with Route 3.
This project is the beginning of what could be a long-term remodeling of the entire stretch of Harrison Road from the I-95 overpass all the way to Route 3. That section of road is only two lanes with some winding hills.
Long term plans that are on Spotsylvania County’s priority list but not yet funded call for widening Harrison Road to four lanes between the Salem Church/Leavells Road intersection and U.S. 1, where several new housing developments have added more traffic to the road.
According to VDOT, another $11.2 million is slotted for right-of-way and utility relocation work that is expected to begin this summer at the intersection of Harrison and Salem Church/Leavells Road.
This work will include two new lanes for eastbound through traffic on Harrison Road. It will also connect the intersection to the Virginia Central Railway Trail, a popular hiking and biking trail, which runs between neighborhoods in the area.
Sidewalks will be added where they don’t currently exist and there will be improvements to the traffic signals.
Construction could start on the intersection improvements in 2026 and take two years to complete.
VDOT says Spotsylvania County has also applied for state funding to widen Harrison Road to four lanes where it may be needed most—on the stretch from Salem Station Boulevard and the I-95 overpass.
That work would run in two phases and would not begin before 2027. Combined, the two phases could cost an estimated $32.8 million with the state and county both providing portions of the money.
Further down the road, there is a planning study for fiscal year 2030 to review the possible addition of a new interchange to I-95 in the vicinity of Harrison Road.
Editor’s Note: Got questions about a local transportation project? Send them to Hank at hsilverberg@fxbgadvance.com!
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In exercising ‘right of way’, how are property owners compensated for their loss of use? Is it the land and improvements value stated by the Real Estate tax? That seems fair.