Politics & Government

Officials Predict Busy Highway Construction Season

Transportation officials briefed members of the press and elected officials on a number of major highway construction projects in Northern Virginia on Thursday morning.

Several major highway improvement projects in Northern Virginia are in full swing and transportation officials predict 2011 will be a year marked by significant road construction.

Virginia Megaprojects, an umbrella agency that oversees multiple projects under the Virginia Department of Transportation, held its annual press briefing on Thursday. Elected officials were updated on the same projects earlier in a separate meeting.

Officials outlined progress made on the Interstate 495 Capital Beltway HOT Lanes project, the Interstate 95 widening project, the Dulles Metrorail project, BRAC projects and the Woodrow Wilson Bridge and Telegraph Road Interchange project.

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"We've made some great progess in 2010," said John Lynch, the VDOT Regional Transportation Program Director. "We've got a lot of work to do."

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THE WOODROW WILSON BRIDGE PROJECT

The Woodrow Wilson Bridge Project is on track and on budget to be "substantially complete" for the fall of 2012, according to project manager Jonathan Jacobsen. The remaining construction hurdle is the I-495 Capital Beltway interchange at Telegraph Road. Last year construction was completed on the interchange's local lanes, and this year crews will work the express lanes.

The construction of the Beltway bridge over the Potomac River and into Maryland "broke mud" in 2000. All the construction with the exception of the Telegraph interchange was completed by the end of 2008. According to Jacobsen, this was deliberate in order to avoid simultaneous construction on both Telegraph Road and Route 1.

The Wilson Bridge Project is also overseeing the Jones Point Park improvement, which began last winter and is expected to be finished for the summer of 2012, Jacobsen said. In addition to upgrading existing recreational facilities, the lighthouse will be restored and an old shipbuilding launching pier will be refurbished. Invasive species will also be removed, and the Mt Vernon Trail will be rerouted through the park upon its completion, according to Jacobsen. The park will continue to remain accessible through construction.

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BRAC CONSTRUCTION

Tom Fahrney, VDOT’s commonwealth BRAC coordinator, was present to address construction on the Fairfax County Parkway near the new National Geospatial Intelligence Association campus and the Mark Center in Alexandria.

Fahrney said the construction on the Fairfax County Parkway was halfway complete. While the first and second phases of the project opened in September 2010, Fahrney said VDOT expected to have the third phase, the $ 23 million relocation of Hooes and Rolling Road, complete by the summer of 2012. The $27 million Boudinot Drive interchange would be complete by the end of this summer, he said.

Fahrney added that the Federal Highway Administration was overseeing the construction of a ramp that would connect the HOV lane of 1-95 directly to the NGA campus, a project that could be completed by the end of 2011 or early 2012.

With regards to the Mark Center, Fahrney discussed both the short- and long-term improvements that would be made in order for 6,400 Department of Defense employees to make a smooth commute.

VDOT is expecting approximately $20 million from the DoD for a series of turn lanes and some ramp widening on the I-395 northbound off ramp  and southbound on ramp, Fahrney said. If expedited, construction could begin in the Spring of 2012 and be completed by 2013.

But long-term solutions will be needed, so VDOT has proposed a ramp that connects the northbound HOV lane of I-395 to Seminary Road. Fahrney said $80 million has been allocated for the project, which could be completed by the end of 2014.

But Fahrney stressed that the construction of both short- and long-term improvements would have to go on while all of the new traffic from BRAC was already in place, since the Mark Center will be fully staffed by September. VDOT will work closely with the communities who will be affected by the congestion, he said.

“There will be pain experienced by not only commuters on 395, not only the employees of the Mark Center,” he said, “but by entire communities in the area.”

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CAPITAL BELTWAY HOT LANES

The Capital Beltway HOT Lanes - short for High Occupancy Toll Lanes - will add two southbound and two northbound lanes on Interstate 495. The project will be finished in late 2012.

"The good news is we're 63 percent complete - we're over the hump," said Lynch, the VDOT regional official. "The bad news is we have a lot left to do."

Motorists will have the option of paying a variable fee to use the HOT lanes, once the lanes are finished. The fee will increase and decrease depending on traffic and the time of day, peaking during the heaviest travel times.

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DULLES METRORAIL

Marcia McAllister, a spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, said approximately one-third of phase one of the Dulles Metrorail is complete.

The airports authority will meet next week to determine the exact location of the station that will eventually deposit riders at Dulles International Airport. The location of the airport's metro station will affect costs associated with the project's second phase, McAllister said.

McAllister also said that metrorail construction may force northbound and southbound overnight closures of Interstate 495 this summer.

The Dulles Metrorail - also called the - will eventually connect Ashburn to Washington.


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