Pedestrians will have to wait a few more weeks before the northbound sidewalk along Dolley Madison Blvd (Route 123) by the McLean Metro station reopens.
The sidewalk is maintained by the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), Jenni McCord, a VDOT spokesperson, told Tysons Reporter.
“This sidewalk has been closed for about three weeks for construction under a developer site plan and permit,” McCord said.
The sidewalk is closed due to work related to Cityline Partner’s Scotts Run project, which will add an 8 million-square-foot mixed-use development.
The project includes several apartments and office buildings — including the completed 425-unit apartment complex called The Haden and the 14-story office building Mitre 4 — along with the Archer Hotel and retail space.
“Our site contractor is completing a new road connection to Route 123 and was required by VDOT to close the sidewalk during construction,” Cityline’s Managing Director Tasso Flocos told Tysons Reporter.
The new connection will include new asphalt pavement, ADA-compliant handicap ramps and pavement markings, McCord said.
The sidewalk will stay closed until paving is finished, Flocos said, adding that the contractor expects to be done by the end of October depending on the weather.
Until then, pedestrians can use the detour that takes them around the work area.
A woman died after her vehicle ran off of Route 267 in Tysons East and struck two trees early this morning (Thursday).
The fatal crash happened around 2:30 a.m. on westbound Route 267 (Dulles Access Road) just west of Route 123, Corinne Geller, a spokesperson for the Virginia State Police, said.
“A Honda Civic was traveling west on Route 267 when it ran off the road and struck two trees. The impact of the crash caused the vehicle to roll over the guardrail and back into the westbound lanes of the highway,” Geller said.
The woman, who was the only person in the vehicle, died at the scene, Geller said.
Police are still trying to contact the woman’s next of kin and have not released her name.
The crash remains under investigation.
Map via Google Map
Drivers can expect delays this morning from a crash along Route 123 between I-495 and the Dulles Connector Road in Tysons.
A traffic camera showed what appeared to be the front end of a red vehicle rammed into the back of a white vehicle around 9 a.m. Police are on scene.
Traffic was backed up connecting the Dulles Connector Road to Route 123, according to Google Maps.
Image via Virginia 511, map via Google Maps
Some attendees at a meeting about a multi-year road project that recently kicked off in the Vienna area said they are worried about traffic impacts.
The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) is currently working on its Transform 66 project, which includes construction near the Vienna/Fairfax-GMU Metro station.
Rich Clifton, the project’s design engineer from FAM Consulting LLC, provided attendees with a construction update at a meeting yesterday (Sept. 4) at the Providence Community Center. Every seat was filled for the presentation at 7 p.m., with dozens of people standing in the back.
Starting today (Sept. 5), the ramp from Saintsbury Drive to eastbound I-66 will be permanently closed.
The ramp will temporarily reopen for buses during the weekday from October 2019 to September 2020 while another road construction project is underway. Clifton strongly urged non-bus drivers to stay off of the ramp.
“The ramp can’t handle the volume of traffic if it was open to the general public,” Clifton. “There are 19 bus routes that go over Vaden.”
Along I-66, the barrier between the collector-distributor (CD) road and eastbound I-66 will be removed and access to I-66 from the CD road and Nutley Street will shift east of Vaden Drive.
On westbound I-66, the lanes will shift, along with the CD road. Clifton said that the exit ramp to Country Creek Drive will remain open.
Starting in October, the bridge at Vaden Drive will close for demolition and construction of a new bridge — a process that will take about a year, Clifton said.
“We’ll try to stay out of Nutley while we work on Vaden bridge,” Clifton said.
While the bridge is closed, drivers will have 2-mile-long detours to follow. A modification of traffic flow at the Nutley Street intersection and Saintsbury Drive will accommodate the detour, Clifton said.
Some attendees at the meeting said that they expect drivers to head west instead of following the detour, possibly clogging up local roads. Clifton said that posted signs about the detours are meant to encourage drivers to take detour routes, but that there is no guarantee that drivers won’t come up with their own directions.
For pedestrians, a shorter detour will allow them to use the bridge at the Vienna/Fairfax-GMU Metro station, which will stay open all day and night. Clifton said that the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) will be able to close off the station, while keeping the gates open for the bridge.
In about six months, work will start on Chain Bridge Road (Route 123) to relocate utilities and to construct bridges, ramps and new box culverts for a future path.
A temporary traffic pattern change will allow for the construction of new ramps:
- westbound I-66 and northbound Route 123
- westbound I-66 and southbound Route 123
- eastbound I-66 and northbound Route 123
- southbound Route 123 and eastbound I-66
There will also be four new traffic signals in that area.
Once all of that work is finished, construction will start on the Nutley Street and I-66 interchange.
While a diverging diamond design was proposed a few years ago, Clifton said that the interchange will instead have a double roundabout.
That work is slated to finish up in the early part of 2022.
After several questions about traffic for each portion of the project, Clifton told attendees to check out the traffic impacts online.
Maps via VDOT
(Updated at 1:20 p.m.) A crash at the intersection of Dolley Madison Blvd (Route 123) and Great Falls Street has closed southbound Great Falls Street in McLean.
Police told Tysons Reporter that four cars were involved and that one car hit three other cars. Police said that there are no serious injuries.
Drivers can expect Great Falls Street to be blocked for another 20 to 30 minutes because there’s no good place on that street for cars to pull off, police said.
Around 1:10 p.m. today (July 3), traffic was slow moving along Dolley Madison Blvd near the accident, according to traffic maps.
Map via Google Maps
A meeting Thursday (May 30) will seek community input on revamping aging bridges at a highway intersection in the heart of Tysons.
The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) plans to rehabilitate the intersection of Leesburg Pike (Route 7) and Route 123 in Tysons. The project will focus on the northbound and southbound bridges where Route 123 passes over Leesburg Pike. Built more than 50 years ago in 1965, the bridges are beginning to show their age.
This rehabilitation will restore the bridge to a like-new condition and will cost approximately $2.5 million. The project is part of VDOT’s routine “State of Good Repair” program, which keeps infrastructure across the Commonwealth well-maintained and safe.
Fairfax County has bigger plans for the intersection. Fairfax transportation planners hope to one day tear down those bridges and build an efficient, modern “continuous flow intersection” at the junction of the two highways. That design would enable a high capacity of automobile throughput, but would also let the county build an elevated park over the intersection.
As it stands, the highways sever those communities from one another and separate Old Courthouse from the Metro stations, but an elevated park would stitch them together.
If the project proceeds as planned, construction would begin in early 2020 and finish by the end of the year. VDOT did not provide any information about possible traffic impacts.
The public has an opportunity for in-person comment on VDOT’s rehab plan at a public information meeting Thursday from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at Freedom Hill Elementary School (1945 Lord Fairfax Road).
People can also provide feedback on the project by emailing Gang Zhang at [email protected].
Vienna: Provide input on Rt 123 over Rt 7 bridge rehabilitation Thu 5/30, 6:30-8:30PM at Freedom Hill ES. A presentation will begin at 7PM. More info: https://t.co/hntL5Ey4ib pic.twitter.com/3zOqUxykSL
— VDOT Northern VA (@VaDOTNOVA) May 24, 2019
Image via Google Maps
The curved One Tysons East project has hit a roadblock that could stall the project.
Akridge — the project’s developer — has put a temporary hold on the entitlement process for the office building while it works out right-of-way negotiations with the Virginia Department of Transportation over the Route 123 frontage, according to the Washington Business Journal.
Leadership at Akridge said the process should only take a couple of months, but in the meantime, the Business Journal says the project is classified by Fairfax County as “indefinitely deferred.”
The last major change for the project was in April when the building went through a series of design changes, including an effort to mitigate the likelihood of bird impacts with the building.
The project is part of a series of new buildings planned for Tysons East — a neighborhood around the McLean Metro station seeing rapid growth spurred in part by the opening of the new Capital One headquarters.
Image via Akridge
Several new streets and major improvements to existing ones are in the works for Tysons.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors made a small adjustment on Tuesday (March 19) to make developers pay a little more of their share, but the report offers a glimpse at what’s ahead for local roadways.
With no discussion, the Board voted unanimously to approve a 1.9 percent increase in the developer contribution rate to the Road Fund and approval of guidelines for those funds’ usage in Centreville and Tysons.
“One of the principles of the Comprehensive Plan for each of the road fund areas is that development above the baseline level established in the plan may be approved, if developer mitigates the impact of such increased density or intensity by contributing to a fund for the provision of off-site road improvements,” staff said in a report. “All aforementioned road funds function in this manner.”
The staff report also included a list of transportation projects either underway or in planning for Tysons’ streets.
- Route 123 Improvements: Changes planned for Route 123 in Tysons East in the early stages of being developed as a “superstreet,” which would modify left turn movements to facilitate regional through movement. The project has finished simulations and is currently undergoing initial design.
- Route 7 Widening and Interchange: A study has been recently completed on a plan to widen Route 7 and implement new improvements at the Route 123 interchange. Stakeholder meetings are planned for this summer.
- Cleveland Ramp Alternatives: A new ramp is planned to connect the Dulles Toll Road to new sections of the Tysons East grid of streets. Greater access to the Dulles Toll Road is part of several transportations discussions currently ongoing in Tysons.
- Jones Branch Connector: An alternative access route from eastern to western Tysons passing over I-495. The project is currently in construction with completion planned for this fall.
- State Street: A new street, named State Street, is being developed to connect Boone Boulevard and Greensboro Drive in Tysons. A study of the project has been completed and options for project implementation are being discussed.
- Lincoln Street: Another proposed new street to connect Route 123 to Magarity Road, intersecting with Old Meadow Road and other future streets. The core idea for the new street is to move traffic from existing developments northeast of Tysons Galleria to Magarity Road. A feasibility study is ongoing.
- Center Street: A new street planned within the Tysons urban center. A report is expected sometime this summer.
Many of the new streets listed in the report are centered around the areas northeast of Tysons Galleria and in Tysons East, the points at either end of the Jones Branch Connector and both planned sites for major redevelopment.
Fresh off sidewalk improvements opening west of the Tysons Corner Center Mall, plans for bicycle and pedestrian improvements east of the mall just been approved and are moving forward towards a 2020 completion.
The new path would run along Old Meadow Road south from Route 123 through the rapidly redeveloping Tysons East to a bridge that would connect to the Tysons Corner Center mall.
The new path would offer a connection to the mall for the new residential and commercial developments proposed for the area. The project would also include a 10-foot shared-use path connected to other paths and sidewalks in the area.
“The project received design approval in December 2018,” said Abraham Lerner, associate manager of special project development with the Virginia Department of Transportation. “We are working on the final design… The main focus in the next two months is on advancing the engineering design of the pedestrian-bicycle bridge over the Beltway.”
Lerner said the final design process uses the alignments approved but with refinements and additional details to ensure the facility aligns with current standards.
According to Lerner, if the project continues as scheduled, VDOT will begin looking at right-of-way acquisition for the project starting in spring. Utility relocation is scheduled to run from November 2019 until April 2020, with construction from April to November 2020.
Images via VDOT
McLean may not be as fully walkable as residents would like, but one stretch of road is stepping in the right direction.
According to a Twitter post by District Supervisor John Foust, construction finished last week on a new sidewalk along Dolly Madison Highway (Route 123) near downtown McLean.
Did you notice the construction along 123 near downtown #McLean? @fairfaxcounty just installed new sidewalk to complete an important missing link & provide safer pedestrian access to bus stop near Kurtz Rd. Coming soon âž¡ filling the gaps along 123 between Old Dominion & Beverly. pic.twitter.com/hmmo4MznQ1
— John Foust (@johnfoustva) October 26, 2018
The sidewalk construction is part of a broader effort to install new walkways across McLean.
Foust said the new sidewalks are part of an effort to complete a missing link and provide safer pedestrian access to the bus stop near Kurtz Road.
According to Foust, the construction will continue with new sidewalks on Dolly Madison Highway between Old Dominion. A Sept. 25 update on transportation projects estimated the Kurtz Road area sidewalks to be fully completed next spring and cost $450,000.
Additional sidewalks further along Dolly Madison Boulevard will be completed later that summer, also costing $450,000.
Photo via Twitter
