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Residents who live on or around Oral Oaks Road may need to find a new way to get home. The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) announced Monday, May 13 that they’re closing part of Route 635, Oral Oaks Road, for roughly a two month period. 

The segment shutting down runs from the intersection with Route 643, New Grove Road, to the connection with Route 655, Plank Road. This is being done, VDOT officials say, for a bridge rehabilitation project. The road closure and bridge work starts on Monday, May 20, with officials saying they hope to have everything done by early July, to fully reopen everything. 

In the meantime, they will have a detour set up, starting Monday morning. For southbound traffic, you’ll be turning onto Route 654, Beach Forest Road, then turning on Route 655, Plank Road, before returning to Oral Oaks Road. On the northbound side, you’ll be doing the exact opposite. You’ll be starting by turning right onto Route 655, then turning left on Route 654, before returning to Oral Oaks Road. 

Now VDOT officials do make it clear this is a schedule built with some qualifiers. If there’s bad weather, especially heavy storms, that’ll push completion back to late July or early August. There’s no local money spent on this project. It comes as part of VDOT’s state funding, which just got finalized Monday for the next two years, with the approval of the state budget.