VDOT Aims to Reopen Flood-Damaged McLean Road in December

Work is underway to get flood-damaged Kirby Road in McLean reopened before the end of the year.

At a meeting hosted last night (Thursday) by Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust, officials from the Virginia Department of Transportation told attendees about the process behind reopening Swinks Mill Road and about the work done on Kirby Road.

The 1300 block of Kirby Road and Swinks Mill Road by Scott’s Runclosed due to severe storm damage from July 8 flash flooding. Swinks Mill Road reopened last week.

Kirby Road was damaged in two places from the storm — the roadway and the bridge. For about 12 hours after the storm, 21 homes were landlocked.

VDOT was able to restore access to the homes by 2 a.m. on July 9, VDOT official Denise Cantwell said.

After some delays with the bidding process, Martins Construction Corporation was awarded the $2.1 million emergency contract for repairs, Cantwell said.

The roadway work is expected to done by mid-November and then the crews will switch over to the bridge to get that done by mid-December. The date to get everything back open is Dec. 15.

To get the work done as soon as possible, VDOT has incentivized the contractor by offering up to $2,000 for every day completed early — capped at $120,000. And if the contractor goes past the Dec. 15 deadline, they will then have to pay $2,000 for every day the project is late.

Cantwell said that work cannot be done simultaneously on the bridge and roadway because then access would be cut off to the 21 homes again.

Work to add surface asphalt and striping is expected to be completed by May 2020. The work is dependent on the weather, Cantwell said.