Dayhoff Westminster Soundtrack: The Rte 17 bridge spans the York River at Yorktown

Friday, June 02, 2017

The Rte 17 bridge spans the York River at Yorktown

Photos by Kevin Dayhoff May 31, 2017

The Rte 17 bridge, which spans the York River at Yorktown and Gloucester Point is known as the “The George P. Coleman Bridge,” according to an article in “Roads to the Future.” The article explains that the bridge “is a 3,750-foot-long double-swing-span bridge located in Yorktown, Virginia, and the bridge crosses the York River. http://www.roadstothefuture.com/Coleman_Bridge.html

The article further explains, “The Coleman Bridge was built as a 2-lane facility in 1952, and it connects the counties of York and Gloucester. The bridge carries Route US-17, a 4-lane arterial highway through eastern Virginia. George P. Coleman, the bridge's namesake, was the Commissioner (agency head) of the Virginia Department of Highways, from 1913 to 1922.

“Due to increasing traffic that had caused the 2-lane bridge to be congested during peak hours, the bridge was widened and reconstructed to 4 lanes, with construction spanning from August 1994 to August 1996. The prime design consultant for the project was Parsons Brinckerhoff, and the prime construction contractor for the project was Tidewater Construction Corporation, of Norfolk, Virginia (now Tidewater Skanska, Inc.).

“The Coleman Bridge main span has 450 feet of horizontal navigational clearance, and 60 feet of vertical navigational clearance when the movable spans are closed. When the movable spans are opened, there is unlimited vertical navigational clearance. The York River has a natural depth of over 60 feet where the bridge's movable spans are. The movable span is needed to allow ship access to several military installations that are upstream of the bridge. The roadways are almost 90 feet above the river at the highest point of the bridge.” Read the rest of the article here: http://www.roadstothefuture.com/Coleman_Bridge.html

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