CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLERIGHTNOW) – Route 743 (Advance Mills Road) in northern Albemarle County is temporarily closed to through traffic as the Virginia Department of Transportation begins a shoulder-widening project aimed at improving roadway safety.

The closure, in place between Route 641 (Frays Mill Road) and Sunflower Fields Drive, allows crews to widen the shoulder on the northbound lane and install a pipe beneath the road near a sharp curve located about a quarter mile south of Sunflower Fields Drive. Access to all driveways in the work zone will remain open.

The detour directs northbound drivers to reverse course and take U.S. 29 (Seminole Trail) north before turning west onto Route 607 (Cedar Grove Road) to rejoin Route 743. Southbound drivers should follow Route 743 north to Cedar Grove Road, then head south to access U.S. 29.

Weather permitting, the work is scheduled to be completed by Friday, March 14, according to a release from the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Culpeper District.