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Suffolk, Virginia —As many motorists have noticed, the overpass construction along Wilroy Road and Nansemond Parkway is in full swing.

The $27 million project will see the construction of an overpass over the Commonwealth Railroad alongside the realignment of Nansemond Parkway and Wilroy Road from north of Bridlewood Ln to approximately 0.42 miles south of the current Nansemond Parkway and Wilroy Rd intersection. The project is on pace to finish in the summer of 2025.

Director of Public Works Robert E. Lewis gave an overview of the project, noting a previous project underway to create turn lanes at the location to allow vehicles making turning movements to bypass other vehicles.

“Amidst those developments, the Virginia Department of Transportation approached us with news that they had identified a program through which we could secure funding for a grade-separated crossing. Consequently, the city halted the [project already underway] and initiated the design phase for this new bridge.  Preliminary work began around 2015 and continued until 2023. While this might seem like an extensive period for preliminary engineering, it was largely due to the previous project reaching that stage. We commenced right-of-way acquisition in the winter of 2022 and concluded it in the summer of 2023.”
“The really beautiful part of this is [that] the vast majority of this project will be constructed without really impacting traffic flow at all,” Lewis said. “In the end when we have the main transition, we’ll start shifting traffic off the old road to the new road. But again, we should be able to build most of this project with minimal impact to the public.”

For more information and to view the project in real-time, go to www.suffolkva.us/1292/Nansemond-ParkwayWilroy-Rd-Overpass.