Smithfield and Isle of Wight County residents will be able to review plans for the widening of Main Street at its intersection with the Route 10 Bypass during the two hours prior to a scheduled February public hearing on the matter.

According to a public notice published in the Jan. 15 print edition of The Smithfield Times, the plans will be on display in the foyer outside the boardroom on the second floor of the county government complex at Monument Circle from 4-6 p.m. on Feb. 20. A public hearing on the project is scheduled during the Board of Supervisors’ 6 p.m. meeting that same day.

The $8.4 million county-administered project, which is fully funded through the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Smart Scale cost-to-benefit formula, calls for widening Main Street on both sides of Route 10, adding a second through lane in each direction and reestablishing left- and right-turn lanes with improved capacity. The scope of work also calls for drainage improvements, new curbs and gutters, lighted push-button pedestrian crossing signs at the intersection and upgrades to parking and lighting at the park-and-ride lot northeast of West Main Street’s intersection with Great Spring Road.

VDOT maintains park-and-ride lots throughout the state for motorists to park their cars and take an alternate form of transportation, such as a bus. The lot in Smithfield currently has 66 parking spaces and direct access from West Main Street.

The plans show an expanded lot with 116 parking spaces, which would be accessed by an extension of Great Spring Road rather than West Main Street.

Preliminary engineering for the project began in 2023 and right-of-way acquisition and utility relocation began in mid-2024. Construction is expected to begin in January 2026 and last 18 months, with completion estimated by July 2027.

The county is administering a separate $1.8 million project, largely funded with federal grant money, to extend 4,600 feet of sidewalks from the 500 block of Main Street to Westside Elementary School and along Great Spring Road that will provide pedestrian access from Quail Street to West Main Street. The widening of Main Street and the new sidewalk will each front the 57-acre Grange at 10Main development Smithfield’s Town Council approved in 2023 for the western edge of the town’s historic district.

Isle of Wight County supervisors last year awarded the sidewalk project contract to Williamsburg-based Branscome Operating LLC. According to Assistant County Administrator Don Robertson, the contract has been approved by VDOT and the Federal Highway Administration. The county anticipates issuing Branscome a notice to proceed by March 1. The contractor will be required to mobilize and begin construction within 10 days of that date, Robertson said.

The Main Street widening plans can also be viewed online at www.isleofwight.gov/wmainst-us258/. Those who don’t speak at the public hearing can instead comment by submitting remarks by March 3 to Jamie Oliver, transportation administrator, Isle of Wight County Public Works, by calling 757-365-1654, emailing joliver@isleofwightus.net or sending mail to P.O. Box 80, Isle of Wight, VA 23397.