The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) in the US has selected Michael Baker, a design, engineering, planning and construction services firm, to plan and prepare the preliminary design of a new Military Highway intersection.

The project is set to ease traffic on 15-mile, four-lane Military Highway in eastern Virginia and Northampton Boulevard, which currently supports traffic of over 50,000 vehicles every day.

VDOT is expecting the company to prepare a unique design for its intersection concept known as Continuous Flow Intersection (CFI), to reduce traffic congestion at the signalised at-grade intersection and eliminate the left-turn conflict with oncoming traffic.

The proposed solution would have a signalised left-turn bay several hundred feet before the intersection, allowing the left-turn vehicles to cross over the opposing through movement while it is stopped.

Baker vice president and project manager Paul M Prideaux said that the company is pleased to be chosen to deliver the planning and design for the innovative solution.

"The CFI at the intersection of Military Highway and Northampton Boulevard will be the first of its kind in Virginia," Prideaux added.

The scope of work under the contract also includes travel-demand forecasting and traffic micro-simulation, apart from the geometric, signal, hydraulic designs and surveying the new intersection.

The company’s design build method will be used to construct the project, however funding has not yet been identified.