Above, I'm standing near VA-5 New Market Road, looking east onto Route 895. Heavy grading is complete in this cut section. Soil was excavated, and stabilization material is being placed over the area, with a layer of over 3 feet of heavy crushed stone about the grade of railroad ballast. This whole section where this deep layer of stone is being placed is a "bathtub" where the highway goes through a deep excavation cut below the water table, and a deep enough stone structure is being placed so that it will resist the hydrostatic pressure of the underground water, and there are extensive underdrains to drain water from the layer of stone so that the roadway structure will stay dry.

Above, I'm standing near VA-5, looking east onto Route 895. Same vantage point as previous photo, taken a few minutes later, but with a 135mm (2.7x) telephoto lens instead of the 50mm regular lens used in previous photo. The stone is being brought from a quarry by the dump trucks, and it is being spread and leveled by a bulldozer, a front-end loader, and a motorgrader; and a steel drum roller is being used to compact the stone. In the distance, you can see where asphalt base courses have been placed on the westbound roadway.

Above, I'm standing on the VA-5 overpass, looking west onto Route 895. Heavy grading is nearing completion. On the right just beyond the embankment, is a settling basin being constructed for storm water runoff. The "bathtub" described above, when completed, will extend under VA-5, to the pile of stone seen ahead.

Above, I'm standing on the VA-5 overpass, looking west onto Route 895. Same vantage point as previous photo, taken a few minutes later, but with a 135mm (2.7x) telephoto lens instead of the 50mm regular lens used in previous photo. Heavy grading is nearing completion. The two mainline bridges cross over Cornelius Creek, and the westbound bridge has a spur bridge branching off to Ramp A, the westbound off ramp to the Laburnum Avenue Connection. The completed overpass bridge is for the Laburnum Avenue Connection. In the distance beyond the mainline bridges, you can see where asphalt base courses have been placed on both roadways.

Route 895 Construction - July 2001 - Photos 5-8

Lead page for Route 895 Construction - July 2001
Lead page for Route 895 Construction
Lead page for Route 895 Connector

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By Scott M. Kozel, Roads to the Future