Winterpock Road Widening Receives ACEC Virginia Grand Award

Company News | February 15, 2024

CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, VA – A. Morton Thomas and Associates, Inc. (AMT) and Johnson, Mirmiran & Thompson (JMT) received an Engineering Excellence Grand Award from the American Council of Engineering Companies of Virginia (ACEC/VA) for the Winterpock Road Widening in Chesterfield County. This $12 million project was ranked for innovation, complexity, achievement, and value. Chesterfield County administered this VDOT Locally Administered Project (LAP), AMT served as the engineer of record providing engineering design and support services, and JMT provided construction management and inspection.

Winterpock Road is a major arterial roadway in Chesterfield County providing direct access from Route 360 (Hull Street Road) to Beach Road as well as several established neighborhoods, Royal Birkdale Golf Course, and Hancock Village Shopping Center. This heavily travelled roadway experienced significant congestion throughout the corridor as well as a high crash rate at the existing stop-sign controlled section with McEnnally Road and Ashbrook Parkway.

The purpose of this project was to alleviate congestion by increasing roadway capacity and improve intersection safety and operations. Accomplishing this involved widening 1.5 miles of Winterpock Road from two lanes to four lanes, adding a 15-foot-wide raised median to accommodate left turns, upgrading existing traffic signalization at Route 360, adding an emergency traffic signal at the Manchester Volunteer Rescue Squad, incorporating bicycle and pedestrian accommodations along the corridor, and converting the existing intersection with McEnnally Road and Ashbrook Parkway to a 2:1 hybrid roundabout. Other infrastructure improvements associated with this major roadway widening project included the installation of approximately 2,325 LF of 16-inch water main, 1,100 LF of 8-inch sanitary sewer, significant storm sewer system and stormwater management facilities including three (3) Level 1 wet ponds with landscaping, and extensive private utility relocations to accommodate the proposed improvements.

Public involvement was an extremely important element of this project. AMT worked very closely with Chesterfield County to hold a Citizens Information Meeting early in the design process, followed by Design Public Hearing and multiple one-on-one meetings with residents affected by the improvements. For the construction phase of the project, AMT established and regularly updated a project website that was used to provide the public with construction progress updates and schedules, maintenance of traffic notifications, and aerial drone videos of the project.

Winterpock Road officially opened on October 27, 2023, and serves over 15,000 vehicles per day. The travelling public has immediately noticed improved traffic flow and enhanced safety throughout the corridor. This region of Chesterfield County continues to experience substantial residential and commercial growth and the improvements along this corridor are designed to accommodate future travel demands for many years to come.