CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – More than a month ahead of schedule, the Old Ivy Road overpass of the Route 29 bypass opened for two-way traffic Friday morning after construction was completed, according to the Virginia Department of Transportation Culpeper District.

The early finish is a bit more of an accomplishment than usual, according to VDOT Culpeper’s Sharon Ketcham, because the bridge was struck by an excavator on a trailer in September, causing damage and delays.

“We thought, obviously, that this would delay our work and clearly for that moment it did,” Ketcham said. “It caused significant damage to the work done, and the work that was on the way to be done.”

She said people were able to huddle up and stay late in evenings to figure ways to move on

“The VDOT team worked with Caton Construction Group to get that going in the right direction by catching up to go ahead with the work they needed to do, but then to go ahead and complete it early,” Ketcham said.

Construction on the $3.9 million project started in Feb. 2025 and was slated to be complete July 1, but they were able to open it completely May 22.

During construction, traffic the entire time was restricted to just eastbound and Ketcham said one of the big populations affected the most by was the St. Anne’s-Belfield community.

“I had a gentleman from St. Anne’s-Belfield call me, super nice and very inquisitive about when we thought we could get this done, and the first time I talked to him was during the time that dump truck-carried excavator hit the bridge.” Ketcham said. “I called him early yesterday and said. ‘Before we put the news release out, since you’ve been so interested I just thought I’d let you know’ and he was very appreciative.”

Construction crews, according to a VDOT Culpeper release, replaced the bridge deck and beams and refurbished bridge piers.

“The structure was also raised to increase vertical clearance for vehicles on U.S. 29/250 traveling under the bridge,” according to the release.

Although the bridge is re-opened to two-way traffic and the major construction is finished, Ketcham said drivers may seem some intermittent overnight flagging operations as contractors complete finishing touches on the project.