The Woolridge Road Extension: A 1.25-Mile Road That Reroutes the Village

Most road projects are sold on congestion relief. This one has a more specific purpose, and the county has written it down.

From the county's own Route 60 corridor study: "The planned extension of Woolridge Road will finalize a desire from Chesterfield County to make Woolridge Road the main route for 'through' traffic to Route 288 and move that traffic out of the Midlothian Village core."

If you do business in the village, that sentence is the whole story.

It begins at the existing Woolridge Road interchange with Route 288 and ends at Old Hundred Road, where it ties into the two-lane stretch of Woolridge that continues southwest toward Moseley. In between it crosses Tomahawk Creek on the twin bridges — five piers and thirty concrete girders each, per the contractor.

It touches only two existing public roads, one at each end. It does not intersect Otterdale Road.

The road has been on Chesterfield's Thoroughfare Plan as a planned major arterial for as long as anyone quotes. The extension completes it.

Transportation Director Chessa Walker called it "the missing piece of Woolridge… a major connector from the northeast to the southwest, and we have a lot of growth in the southwest part of the county." Project manager Nate Mathis framed it as web-building: "When we open it up, instead of having to turn onto Genito or Old Hundred, there will be a direct link to 288."

The county's September 2026 statement is more direct about the network effect. The Woolridge and Center Pointe Parkway extensions together "will create much-needed redundancy in Chesterfield's transportation network, enabling more motorists to access Route 288 and Powhite Parkway without having to use Hull Street Road."

Two sets of traffic figures are in circulation, both from the county, and they measure different things. The 2021 design public hearing put opening-year daily traffic on the new road at 13,670 and 2044 design-year traffic at 27,100. A 2023 county newsflash said a traffic study projects volume rising from about 7,000 to 17,000 vehicles a day once the extension is finished.

Under construction. The county's project page says construction began in December 2025; Wagman's own project page says field construction began in May 2026. Both statements are current and neither has been reconciled publicly.

There is no traffic impact in the village today. The road is being built on new alignment, so there is little existing traffic to disturb. The one planned disruption is a 14-day closure of existing Woolridge Road at Old Hundred Road, which the county still described in the future tense as of May 2026. Old Hundred Road itself stays open throughout.

The contract carries an early-completion incentive: finish between November 2027 and the deadline and Wagman earns a per-day payout. The county has not published the rate. Wagman finished the nearby Nash Road extension early, which is why the clause is there.

One dependency worth watching. In 2023 the county's project manager said the extension would not open until the separate Woolridge Road widening between Lacoc and Genito is finished. As of August 2026 that widening had right-of-way complete, utilities in relocation, and construction anticipated to begin in late 2026. No county statement reconciles a widening starting in late 2026 with an extension due for acceptance in July 2028.

Road capacity is what makes land developable, and the clearest example is already approved.

Crossroads at Roseland, case 24SN1157, was approved by the Board of Supervisors on September 17, 2025 — 405 dwellings on 107 acres at Old Hundred Road east of Otterdale: 237 townhouses on individual lots and 168 stacked condominium units, at 3.79 units per acre. TC Development assembled the land for $6.3 million in December 2024 plus $1.6 million for a fifth parcel.

The Planning Commission deferred it twice before recommending approval on August 19, 2025, after the applicant reduced the number of exceptions sought and accepted a phasing limit. That limit is proffered condition 12, and it is the sharpest illustration of what this road is worth:

Three hundred and five of the 405 approved homes are legally gated behind the road opening.

The developer's commitments are worth knowing too: $1,540,629 in road cash proffers, an agreed $890,000 of off-site widening on the north side of Old Hundred Road along its frontage, and $988,200 toward the drainage and road crossing of Tomahawk Creek for the future east-west arterial. Access is capped at one point onto Woolridge Road Extended and two onto Old Hundred Road, with no connection to Otterdale required.

Crossroads at Roseland is the only rezoning case on the extension corridor itself since 2024. Everything else on the county's agendas along that stretch has been right-of-way acquisition and land dedications — which is its own signal about what comes next.

Eleven years from funding resolution to the last paving is a fair benchmark for anyone wondering how long a major road takes in Chesterfield.

This project is not part of the Midlothian Community Special Area Plan. The plan's western boundary is Route 288, and the extension lies west of it. Woolridge Road appears in the plan only as North Woolridge Road, on the far side of the village. The document that governs the extension is the countywide Thoroughfare Plan, Chapter 13 of the Comprehensive Plan.

The connection to the village is made by the 2023 Route 60 corridor study, which says the extension is what finally lets the county push through traffic out of the village core. That is the link, and it is a policy link rather than a planning-document one.

The Midlothian Business Alliance's community affairs contributors include volunteers who serve in county appointed positions, including on the Chesterfield County Planning Commission.

Last updated September 16, 2026.