Coming Soon: Warren County - Route 658 (Rockland Road) Bridge

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The Virginia Department of Transportation plans to construct a bridge on Route 658 (Rockland Road) over the Norfolk Southern Railway in Warren County.

The project creates a grade-separated crossing over the Norfolk Southern Railway on Route 658 in Warren County, near Front Royal and the Virginia Inland Port. The Rockland Road bridge project will improve Route 658 traffic flow reliability while accommodating future rail needs.

Currently motorists randomly experience frequent and extensive delays at this railroad crossing with trains accessing this track multiple times a day. Train traffic includes trains traveling through the corridor or performing unloading operations at the Virginia Inland Port.

The Route 658 grade separation consists of a bridge 220-feet long and 42-feet wide with a minimum vertical clearance of 23 feet over the railroad tracks. The bridge height will accommodate double-stacked freight containers. Trains will pass underneath the bridge while Route 658 traffic travels uninterrupted on the bridge.

The project also includes improvements to roadway approaches on Route 658. Additionally the project improves the alignment of Route 705 (Fishnet Boulevard) with the entrance to Rockland Park.

Route 705 and the entrance to Rockland Park would be shifted to the east, away from the railroad tracks, allowing construction of a right-turn lane into the park. The new park entrance would be aligned with a new entrance road for Cornerstone Baptist Church.

Other features of the project include a new access road to the natural gas facility and a realigned service road for Alleghany Power. Route 658, including the bridge over the railway, would have paved shoulders wide enough to accommodate bikes and pedestrians.

This project is designed to preserve sinkhole areas – the habitat of Madison Cave Isopod protected species.

The construction schedule includes advertisement for construction in summer 2023 with construction starting in early 2024. Construction is anticipated to last 19 months. Route 658 will be closed for the duration and traffic detoured via Routes 340/522 (Winchester Road) to the west and Route 661 (Fairground Road) to the east and north. Rockland Park will remain open to the public during construction.

In 2021, Route 658 had an average daily traffic count of 2,600 vehicles per day, and by the design year of 2046, the estimated average daily traffic volume would be 6,400 vehicles per day.

The total estimated cost for this project is $26,010,197 including $1,940,393 for preliminary engineering, $2,565,523 for right-of-way and $21,504,281 for construction. It is funded in part by a BUILD grant awarded to the Virginia Port Authority by the United States Department of Transportation.

Benefits

In the existing condition, vehicles are stopped here multiple times per day for indefinite periods of time. This project would eliminate the wait for the nearly 2,600 vehicles that use Rockland Road each day, thereby greatly improving the reliability of this route for the travelling public. Importantly, by building the bridge long enough to span three railroad tracks (i.e. two existing and one future) the project would also accommodate future rail needs.