40 Years in the Making: John Rolfe Parkway Finally Complete

40 years after the project was initially envisioned, the final section of John Rolfe Parkway, connecting Pump Road to Ridgefield Parkway, opened to traffic on Tuesday. The roadway, meant to alleviate other congested roadways around Short Pump and provide a more direct north-south route in the Far West End, was originally meant to be something a little bigger.

November 9, 2011; 11:04 AM • by Trevor Dickerson

40 years after the project was initially envisioned, the final section of John Rolfe Parkway, connecting Pump Road to Ridgefield Parkway, opened to traffic on Tuesday. The roadway, meant to alleviate other congested roadways around Short Pump and provide a more direct north-south route in the Far West End, was originally meant to be something a little bigger.

Decades ago, long before Short Pump blossomed into the bustling suburban community it is, the land John Rolfe Parkway was built upon was set aside for a highway connecting Interstate 295 and Route 288 in Chesterfield, a route that was pushed westward into more rural Goochland County instead and constructed many years later.

“Henrico County did reserve the right-of-way for this corridor, but neighboring jurisdictions made other choices,” Henrico County Traffic Engineer Michael A. Jennings said. “Henrico County continued with John Rolfe Parkway because it is an important part of our traffic plan serving transportation needs of the western part of the county.”

Construction of the road, which runs from West Broad Street to Ridgefield Parkway, required the realignment of the intersection of Pump and Church Roads and numerous neighborhood road closures, both temporary and permanent.

Below, we take a look back at photos from our coverage of construction over the past four years.

November 9, 2011 11:04 AM 0