Here's more photos of Route 895 under construction, taken early September, 2001.

Above, I'm standing near VA-5 New Market Road, looking east onto Route 895. 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 was 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. A layer of aggregate base course was placed over the layers of heavy crushed stone, and three 3-inch asphalt base courses and a 2-inch asphalt intermediate course have been placed on top of the aggregate base.

Above, I'm standing on the VA-5 overpass, looking west onto Route 895. The "bathtub" from VA-5 to the west end of the bathtub has been completed.

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. 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 and intermediate courses have been placed on both roadways.

© Copyright 2001 by Scott Kozel, and all photos taken by same. All rights reserved.

(Created 10-13-01)