Henrico supervisors approved the $45.5 million contract Oct. 27 to widen Three Chopt Road to four lanes from Barrington Hill Drive past Gaskins Road. Work starts in November.
The Henrico County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a $45.5 million contract to widen Three Chopt Road between Short Pump and Gaskins Road.
Updated Oct. 29: The board approved the contract at its Oct. 27 meeting, the county said in its meeting recap. Work is expected to begin in November and take about three years.
The contract goes to Shirley Contracting Company, LLC of Lorton, Virginia. It was the last item on the board’s agenda for Oct. 27, and the directors of Public Works and Purchasing had recommended approval.
Work is set to run for 1,096 calendar days, or about three years, the agenda says.
What will be built
The project covers 2.1 miles of Three Chopt Road, according to the county’s project page. It starts at Barrington Hill Drive, by West Broad Village, and ends about 1,000 feet east of Gaskins Road. The Gaskins Road intersection is about three miles southeast of the center of Short Pump.
The board paper lists:
- four travel lanes with curb and gutter
- either a shared center left-turn lane or a raised median, depending on the section
- 4-foot sidewalks on both sides of the road
- enclosed drainage, public water and sanitary sewer lines
- new signs and pavement markings
The project page adds improvements at the Three Chopt Road and Gaskins Road intersection.
Three bids, and the lowest won
The county opened three bids on Sept. 1. Shirley Contracting bid $45,531,364. Branch Civil, Inc. of Roanoke, Virginia, bid $48,935,850. Sagres Construction Corporation of Alexandria, Virginia, bid $51,470,999.99.
County staff found Shirley Contracting the lowest responsive and responsible bidder, the agenda says. It is a unit-price contract, so the final cost depends on the quantities the county actually orders. The county says the money is already in the project budget.
A decade in the making
The county held citizen information meetings on the project on Nov. 19, 2015, and April 21, 2016, and a public hearing on May 26, 2016, according to the project page. It says the county has finished buying the land it needs, and that moving utility lines is underway.
As of October 2025, the county was working with the Virginia Department of Transportation on an environmental re-evaluation and renewing permits with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the page says. It was also coordinating moves of Richmond Gas, Dominion Energy, Comcast and Verizon lines that sit in the road’s path.
Also at Tuesday’s meeting
Other items the board took up Oct. 27, according to the agenda and the county’s recap:
- A local marijuana sales tax. The board reviewed an ordinance to tax sales of marijuana and marijuana products at 3.5%, as state law allows. State law expects licensed retail sales to begin July 1. A public hearing and vote follow on Nov. 10.
- Rules on public marijuana use. A second ordinance would ban consuming marijuana in public parks, playgrounds, streets and sidewalks, ban it on school grounds and set hours for licensed retail stores. It also goes to a hearing and vote Nov. 10.
- A $15.9 million trail contract, approved, to Crowder Construction for four sections of the Fall Line Trail in the Lakeside area and along Hilliard and Brook roads, about 1.6 miles of shared-use path. Work is expected to begin in November and take about two years.
- A proclamation, approved, marking Crash Responder Safety Week, Nov. 2-6.
What it means for you
If you drive Three Chopt Road between Short Pump and Gaskins Road, expect a work zone there from November until about late 2029. Neither the agenda nor the county’s recap says how lanes will be handled during construction, or which day crews start. We will add the county’s traffic plan to our road construction and closures page when it is published.
The board’s video of the Oct. 27 meeting is on the county’s meeting video page.
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