Saturday, October 09, 2004
Detour on Closed Road
Hurricane Gaston (2004 August 30) washed out a number of roads around the Richmond, Virginia, area. One such road is US 301, which is the best way to get from Richmond to Baltimore, or maybe even Washington. A bridge was washed out at Kersey Creek, which is between I-295 and Va 54. I heard they are going to be putting up a temporary bridge by the end of this month. Until then, Virginia DOT has put up a web site describing it as closed. This is what the site says:
Route 301 Hanover-The road is closed at the Kersey Creek Bridge due to a bridge washout. Through traffic is prohibited between I-295 and Route 54. The detour is Route 643 to Route 656 to Route 657 and back to Route 301.
OK, except that if you look on a map, Routes 643 and 657 intersect US 301 between I-295 and Route 54. Detours are put up to route through traffic around a part of the road that is closed. Since when do you start at a detour at a place that you can't travel to? "Road Closed" comes before "Detour". That doesn't make sense. The detour needs to come first. Route 643 is in the prohibited part of I-295. And so is Route 657. Either Virginia DOT has placed a detour on roads that the public can't get to, or one of their last two statements above is false.
I say if you want to take Route 301, go ahead and go north from I-295, take the detour, and get back on Route 301 and continue. Carry a copy of VDOT's announcement to show in case someone stops you for going on a prohibited road. My preference right now would be to take I-95 around it to Va 54 because these country routes are probably slow. But that does not matter. VDOT needs to reword its advisory.
Route 301 Hanover-The road is closed at the Kersey Creek Bridge due to a bridge washout. Through traffic is prohibited between I-295 and Route 54. The detour is Route 643 to Route 656 to Route 657 and back to Route 301.
OK, except that if you look on a map, Routes 643 and 657 intersect US 301 between I-295 and Route 54. Detours are put up to route through traffic around a part of the road that is closed. Since when do you start at a detour at a place that you can't travel to? "Road Closed" comes before "Detour". That doesn't make sense. The detour needs to come first. Route 643 is in the prohibited part of I-295. And so is Route 657. Either Virginia DOT has placed a detour on roads that the public can't get to, or one of their last two statements above is false.
I say if you want to take Route 301, go ahead and go north from I-295, take the detour, and get back on Route 301 and continue. Carry a copy of VDOT's announcement to show in case someone stops you for going on a prohibited road. My preference right now would be to take I-95 around it to Va 54 because these country routes are probably slow. But that does not matter. VDOT needs to reword its advisory.
