Deep Creek Bridge Replacement Project

Project Manager

Walt Trinkala
Project Manager
Norfolk District, USACE
803 Front Street
Norfolk, VA 23510
757-201-7673
Email

FAQs

Will the bridge be tolled?
No

Will vehicles still be able to use the bridge during construction?
Yes
The new south span of the bridge will be built first while the current bridge is still in use. Once the south span is completed, traffic will be diverted to that span, the old bridge will be demolished, and the north span will be constructed in its place.

 

Deep Creek Bridge Replacement

Replacement Project Scope: The project will replace the federally-owned Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway Deep Creek Bridge -– a functionally obsolete, two-lane, 20-foot-wide, single-leaf bridge –- with a 144-foot-long, 60-foot-wide, five-lane, dual-leaf drawbridge.

The project includes improvements to approaching roadways.

Authorization: The U.S. House of Representatives authorized Deep Creek Bridge's replacement as part of H.R. 1495, the Water Resources Development Act of 2007. WRDA is a bill dedicated to authorizing U.S. Army Corps of Engineers activities.

Cost: $59.5 million

Background:

Built in 1934 at a cost of $64,000, the Deep Creek Bridge is a federally owned and operated two-lane bridge that crosses the Dismal Swamp Canal and Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway at U.S. Route 17 in Chesapeake’s Deep Creek community.

The District’s effort to replace the bridge began in 1977.

Noting traffic congestion and the structure’s failure to meet width and design load standards, Norfolk District engineers first recommended replacing the bridge in a January 1977 feasibility study, but that recommendation was rejected. In March 1996, the Chesapeake city manager, citing city plans to improve the Route 17 corridor, asked USACE to again study the feasibility of replacing the bridge. The District published its initial appraisal two months later and again requested Congressional authorization for a feasibility study.

With Congressional authorization and funding in hand, the Norfolk District initiated a new feasibility study in 1998 and those results were transmitted to Congress in a March 2003 Chief of Engineers Report recommending replacement of the bridge.

In 2007, Congress authorized the replacement project in the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2007 and, in the 2020 WRDA, reauthorized the project at a cost of $59.5 million.

Replacing the bridge will improve traffic flow and meet Virginia Department of Transportation and city of Chesapeake requirements. It comes at a time in which road improvements are being made to either side of the bridge. Norfolk District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to replace Deep Creek Bridge with a five-lane roadway located 100 feet south of the existing bridge.

Once completed, the AIWW Deep Creek Bridge will be operated, maintained and owned by the City of Chesapeake.

Project News

Closures at Deep Creek Bridge scheduled for Sept. 19
9/15/2023 UPDATED
A closure of the existing shoulder walkway on the west side of the Deep Creek Bridge and a closure of the right-turn-only lane on Mill Creek Parkway to Moses Grandy Trail will take effect on September...
USACE, Chesapeake schedule Deep Creek Bridge groundbreaking ceremony
5/22/2023 UPDATED
NORFOLK -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Norfolk District, and the City of Chesapeake, in partnership with the prime contractor, Archer Western LLC, will host a groundbreaking ceremony for the...
USACE awards $59.5 million contract to construct new Deep Creek Bridge in Chesapeake
4/17/2023
NORFOLK -- The Norfolk District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, awarded a $59.5 million contract today to Archer Western LLC of Norfolk, Virginia, to replace the Deep Creek Bridge in Chesapeake,...