CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WVEC) -- On Friday, leaders came together to start the process of replacing Chesapeake's Deep Creek Bridge. Built in 1934, it was designed to handle 5,000 vehicles daily. Now a whopping 27,000 cars use it each day.
"It's obsolete in terms of its structure. It's safe, but we wouldn't build this bridge today to handle that type of traffic," said Aubrey Layne, secretary of transportation.
People say cars back up, and that upkeep is a challenge.
"It's tough to maintain when you have a structure that was constructed in 1934. You can imagine that parts aren't on the shelf," said Colonel Jason Kelly with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. That group is heading up the construction.
Kelly said the bridge is important to the hurricane evacuation route. The new five lane draw-bridge will cost $42 million, some of that federal and Virginia Department of Transportation money. Construction is slated to start in 2018.
"Year 2021 is when we plan to hand the bridge over, so there will be several years of real-estate acquisition that has to take place," said Kelly.
Crews will start building the new bridge south of the current one. While construction is taking place, drivers will be able to use the current bridge. Eventually part of the new bridge will overlap the site of the existing one.
"So impacts to the community in the interim will be certainly no worse than what you're experiencing now, and so we're on the road to something better," he added.
For more information on the bridge you can visit the City of Chesapeake's website.