New Vaden Drive Bridge to Open for Traffic Tomorrow

A renovated Vaden Drive Bridge over Interstate 66 in Vienna will be open to vehicle traffic by Wednesday (Nov. 25) after being closed for more than a year for construction.

With the bridge reopening, vehicles on Vaden Drive will no longer have to detour onto Nutley Street, but pedestrians will still have to use the nearby Vienna Metro station’s pedestrian bridge until a planned shared-use path and sidewalk on the bridge is finished in December.

Other ongoing construction activities around the Vaden Drive Bridge involve:

• A redesign of the entrances from Vaden Drive to the Metro parking garages, which is expected to finish in December
• A new sidewalk on the bridge’s east side scheduled to open in summer 2021
• New ramps to and from the future I-66 Express Lanes

The Virginia Department of Transportation warns drivers to use caution as construction activities continue, and people adjust to new travel patterns.

The new Vaden Drive Bridge is part of VDOT’s Transform 66 Outside the Beltway project, which is widening the interstate with 22.5 miles of express lanes from I-495 in Idylwood to University Boulevard in Gainesville.

The part of the project around the Vienna Metro station also involved improvements to the Nutley and Saintsbury Drive intersection and the closure of the Saintsbury ramp to I-66 East.

VDOT says the rebuilt Vaden Drive Bridge “will improve access to the station for vehicles, commuter buses, cyclists, and pedestrians.”

As part of the Transform 66 project, VDOT is also rebuilding the Cedar Lane bridge over I-66 to accommodate the interstate’s expansion. The bridge was closed on May 15 for demolition, and the new one is expected to reopen in mid-December.

Photos via Google Maps, VDOT