The Shadow
FINCASTLE — Beginning Monday, April 1, southbound Route 220 traffic north of Fincastle in Botetourt County will be detoured for an estimated 10 to 14 days.
The detour will allow crews to continue ongoing work to replace a damaged section of pipe near Route 220’s intersection with Route 679 (Peck Road/Martins Lane).
The road was damaged Feb. 20 when the driver of a truck hauling gasoline and diesel fuel wrecked and caught fire. The tanker was carrying more than 8,000 gallons of fuel, which exploded and spilled into a tributary of nearby Catawba Creek.
Beginning Monday, all southbound traffic will use a signed detour: Mary Alice Road to West Wind Road to Old Fincastle Road to return to Route 220. Residents along the detour route will be able to access their homes.
Drivers should expect delays and heavier traffic on secondary roads in the vicinity of the closure.
Tractor-trailers and large industrial vehicles should avoid southbound Route 220 and seek alternate routes such as Interstate 64 and Interstate 81.
Northbound Route 220 traffic will remain shifted into a single lane with the speed limit reduced to 35 mph.
Crews with the Virginia Department of Transportation continue to work to replace a 110-foot section of pipe that was destroyed when the tanker caught fire.
A replacement pipe has been assembled and it must be joined to the old section of pipe beneath southbound Route 220.
To make the connection, workers will be excavating, placing concrete footers and installing a steel splice joint beneath the inside southbound lane.
During the excavation and construction, it will not be safe for vehicles to travel on the lane.
Once the pipe connection is complete, the southbound detour will be removed and Route 220 traffic will return to a two-way pattern with one lane open in each direction.
After the southbound Route 220 detour is removed, VDOT is estimating another four to six weeks before the northbound lanes of Route 220 are repaired and all four lanes are open to traffic.
