HARPERS FERRY, W.Va. — A scheduled three-month project to stabilize a portion of US Rt. 340 near Harpers Ferry in Jefferson County begins Tuesday.
The project will closing the highway to remove rock and install rockfall barriers above the highway where it hugs the Shenandoah River just south of Harpers Ferry.
The work will mean a detour that will tag an extra half hour onto thousands of commuters travel time one way.
State Division of Highways District 5 Engineer Lee Thorne said there are several aspects to the project. It said it isn’t safe to keep the road open while the work is happening.
“Part of the contract is for the contractor to remove any loose rock, that’s the reason for the closure. It’s so steep and so unstable, ya know, working, any rock could easily bounce out into the roadway and hit a car,” Thorne said at a public meeting earlier this year.
The work is aimed at stabilizing the corridor through “rock slope scaling, localized rock bolting, and removal of potential large scale rockfall hazards. Additionally, the slope will have rockfall mitigation efforts including draped and pinned mesh, ground-level rockfall barriers, and on-slope rockfall attenuator systems,” according to a DOH news release.
A posted detour around the project area during work will be WV 9 and Virginia SR 9 and Virginia SR 671. Work is scheduled to be done by Christmas.
US 340 is a high-traffic volume corridor carrying about 24,500 vehicles a day including local, commuter, and truck traffic from West Virginia, Virginia and Maryland.
The National Park Service has announced some changes at Harpers Ferry National Historic Park in connection with the Route 340 project.
“ Due to potentially hazardous conditions during rockslide stabilization work along US 340, Harpers Ferry National Historical Park will temporarily close a portion of the Loudoun Heights Trail, certain climbing routes, and a section of river shoreline starting Sept. 12. The temporary closures will continue for the duration of the work, which is expected to last 90 days,” according to a press release issued last week.
The announcement says The Loudoun Heights Trail will be closed one mile east of its intersection with the Appalachian National Scenic Trail through the Split Rock Overlook. The Loudoun Heights Trail will be monitored throughout the project, and further closures may become necessary for the safety of the visitors and construction workers.
“Climbing routes in Virginia and West Virginia east of Chestnut Hill Road will be closed during construction. A 0.8 mile section of shoreline below the work, along the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers, will also be closed,” according to the statement.
In addition, there will be intermittent closures for pedestrians crossing the US 340 bridge, not expected to exceed 20 minutes.
US 340 along the Shenandoah River was built in the mid-1950s.
MetroNews reporter Jeff Jenkins contributed to this story.