Various lane closures due to work on the new Courthouse interchange could cause some additional traffic headaches starting this weekend.

The Virginia Department of Transportation will be closing up to two of three lanes in each direction of Route 50 from 10th Street to N. Rhodes Street. Those closures will take place at night, from 9:00 p.m. to 5:30 a.m., starting on Sunday and running through Thursday, February 2. Daytime closures from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. will begin on Monday and continue until Friday, February 3.

VDOT warns drivers that although late night closures don’t officially begin until 9:00 p.m., preparations for the road work could start as early as 7:00 p.m. Drivers should use extra caution in the area and be aware of construction crews.

The $39 million project to redesign the interchange at Route 50, Courthouse Road and 10th Street was launched to improve accessibility and safety in the area. Aesthetic improvements will also be added.

The project’s second phase of utility relocation is scheduled to be finished this spring. The entire project is slated to be completed in fall of 2013.

The lefthand lane on westbound Route 50 near the Courthouse Road exit has finally reopened, after more than a year of utility work.

The lane closure lasted about 10 months longer than originally anticipated. The utility work was performed in preparation for VDOT’s Courthouse interchange project, which is expected to get underway this month.

A tipster says the jersey walls separating the two righthand lanes of westbound Route 50 from the newly-paved lefthand lane were removed during the day on Friday.

Construction on the new Route 50 / Courthouse Road interchange is set to begin this month.

The project, which is expected to wrap up in 2013, will result in major improvements to what is now a rather confusing and even dangerous series of on and off-ramps. In the meantime, however, drivers will have to put up with some minor headaches as the project forces the closure of some busy routes and ramps, starting later this year.

Among the closures, according to VDOT:

• Westbound 50 ramp to N. Courthouse Road (Winter 2011 to Spring 2012)
• Fairfax Drive between N. Troy Street and N. Scott Street (Winter 2011 to Spring 2012)
• Ramp from southbound 10th Street to eastbound Rt. 50 (Spring 2012 to Winter 2012/Spring 2013)
• Ramp from eastbound Route 50 to Courthouse Road (Fall 2012 to Winter 2012/Spring 2013)

For each closure, there will be a signed detour. Some local residents have expressed concern that the detours would siphon highway traffic onto residential streets, but we’re told that transportation planners expect the impact on residential streets to be minimal.

See maps of each detour, after the jump.

View Route 50 Closure 1 in a larger map
Detour: 10th Street N. to N. Barton Street.

View Route 50 Closure 2 in a larger map
Detour: N. Scott Street to 13th Street N. to N. Troy Street.

View Route 50 Closure 3 in a larger map
Detour: Washington Blvd to N. Pershing Drive to Route 50, and N. Barton Street to N. Pershing Drive to Route 50.

View Route 50 Closure 4 in a larger map
Detour: Washington Blvd to Garfield Street to Clarendon Blvd.

The Arlington County Police Department and Sheriff’s Office held its annual observance of Peace Officers Memorial Day this morning.

Drummers, bagpipers and a bugler helped to mark the solemn occasion at the Arlington County Justice Center Plaza om Courthouse. Courthouse Road was shut down for the ceremony, which started at 8:00 a.m. Through speeches, the law enforcement community remembered the six Arlington County officers who have died in the line of duty.

Later in the day, Whole Foods and Applegate Farms grilled a free lunch on the plaza for law enforcement officers and employees.

National Police Week, an annual law enforcement gathering held in the D.C. area, officially begins on Friday.

If you’re used to seeing the ugly, dangerous Route 50/Courthouse Road interchange, get ready for a big change. VDOT has released some sketches of what the interchange will look like by 2014.

Next month VDOT will begin work on a $39 million project to revamp the aging, confusing mess of on-ramps and off-ramps. The interchange’s bridges will be rebuilt and dedicated acceleration/deceleration lanes will be added.

For the next two an a half years, motorists can expect nightly closures of 2-3 lanes of Route 50 in both directions, as well as occasional closures of side streets and on/off ramps. VDOT says it will announce the closures in advance and provide signed detours.

VDOT will be holding a public meeting on Tuesday, May 3, to answer neighborhood questions about the project. The meeting will be held at 6:00 p.m. at the Arlington County Boardroom (2100 Clarendon Blvd).

See the full VDOT press release after the jump.

This month, the Virginia Department of Transportation begins a $39 million project to improve safety and accessibility at the congested Courthouse Road and 10th Street interchanges on Route 50 (Arlington Boulevard) in Arlington County. The project will be complete in the fall of 2013.

 

Beginning mid-May, drivers can expect up to two of three lanes in each direction on Route 50 to be closed weeknights from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. through the interchanges.

 

Four future closures with signed detours are also expected over the course of the two-year project. The schedule and duration of these closures and the alternate routes will be announced well in advance:

• Northbound ramp to Courthouse Road closed as well as tie-in of Fairfax Drive to westbound Rt. 50
• Closure of Fairfax Drive between Courthouse Road and Scott Street
• Closure of ramp from southbound 10th Street to eastbound Rt. 50 and Fairfax Drive
• Detours for removal of Courthouse Rd. bridge over Rt. 50

These two interchanges, constructed in the early 1950s, are tightly spaced by today’s standards, with short acceleration lanes and insufficient capacity to accommodate current and future traffic volumes.

 

The project includes rebuilding the existing bridges, and improving the interchanges by adding dedicated acceleration/deceleration lanes separated from the main roadway. These new lanes will improve traffic flow by managing the merge of entering and exiting vehicles.

 

Additional improvements include:

 

• Signalized intersections providing access from eastbound Route 50 to 10^th Street and Courthouse Road
• Ramps providing access from westbound Route 50 to 10^th Street and Courthouse Road
• A signalized “T” intersection providing access from both directions of Fairfax Drive to the Courthouse Road ramp
• A bicycle trail added eastbound on Arlington Boulevard from Pershing Drive to Rolfe Street, and relocating and extending the westbound trail under the 10^th Street bridge

The project also features a public art component consisting of custom-designed concrete panels and LED back-illuminated, patterned metal grillwork designed by artist Vicki Scuri, working with the Arlington Cultural Affairs Public Art program.

 

A “pardon our dust” meeting for the local community will be held at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, May 3 at the Arlington County Boardroom at 2100 Clarendon Boulevard.

 

Flippo Construction Co., Inc. is the contractor for the project. More information on the project, including renderings, detailed traffic data and detour maps, is available at the project page on VDOT’s website here.

Update at 12:35 p.m. — Another stop sign has been installed.

There is a stop sign missing on the on-ramp from Courthouse Road to eastbound Route 50, causing a serious traffic hazard.

Police are currently on scene directing traffic, according to police radio transmissions. Before police arrived, cars were heading straight through the T intersection, where Courthouse Road traffic heading onto Route 50 normally yields to eastbound Route 50 traffic exiting onto the ramp.

No word on how the stop sign went missing or whether it caused any accidents. A new stop sign is expected to be installed shortly.

The Route 50/Courthouse Road interchange project is among the projects receiving funding under a new transportation push by Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell.

At a meeting of Northern Virginia elected officials and transportation planners yesterday, McDonnell announced that VDOT will advertise some $1.1 billion in new construction and maintenance projects during the first six months of fiscal year 2011.

The spending will create 33,900 jobs and generate $2.83 billion in total economic activity, according to the governor’s office.

McDonnell says his administration has been working to unclog a backlog of projects in VDOT’s pipeline. The governor noted that now is the time to invest in new infrastructure, since financing costs are at near-record lows.

One question that remains is how McDonnell plans on funding the slew of new transportation projects. He has pledged not to impose new taxes.

(Updated at 2:40 p.m.) Repairs are complete and the ramp has reopened.

“Repairs are temporary until they find out exactly what caused the sinkhole,” said VDOT spokesperson Joan Morris. Workers think a “bad pipe” may be to blame.

Original post from 2:38 p.m. on 10/12 — The ramp from westbound Route 50 to Courthouse Road will likely be shut down throughout the rush hour due to a sinkhole that’s about the size of a tire in diameter and 4-5 feet deep.

Arlington police have blocked off the ramp with orange barrels from the adjacent VDOT utility relocation project, which already had the far left-hand lane of Route 50 shut down.

Two VDOT workers are on the scene evaluating the sinkhole. A VDOT spokesperson is checking to see how long repair work is expected to take.

Hopefully you’ve gotten used to the lane closure on westbound Route 50 near Courthouse, because it’s probably sticking around for the holidays.

The lane closure, put into place to facilitate a utility relocation project, was originally supposed to be lifted in July. Now, it will likely be in place through the end of the year.

Washington Gas will wrap up their portion of the utility work by the end of October or beginning of November, according to VDOT utility relocation manager Matthew McLaughlin. Then it’s expected that Dominion will start a two-month installation of an underground electrical conduit. The existing lane closure will stay in place during that time.

The planned two-month duration of the Dominion work “can increase very quickly” in the event of inclement weather, we’re told.

The lane closure has made a tricky merge from Courthouse Road onto westbound Route 50 even trickier. Somewhat ironically, the ultimate goal of the utility relocation work is to prepare for the construction of a safer Route 50/Courthouse Road interchange.

The multi-month delays in the project were caused by additional utility relocations that had to be made due to changes in the interchange construction plan, McLaughlin said.

Photo courtesy Todd DuBois

Crews are working to fix a second break in a 12-inch water main near Ft. Myer.

The first break occurred around 7:30 this morning at South Courthouse Road and 2nd Street. Water from the break flooded the intersection and nearby Washington Boulevard, snarling rush hour traffic.

Arlington County crews just finished repairing the break and patching up the road. Now, they’re beginning to work on a second break that occurred at South Wayne Street and 2nd Street. Drivers should expect road and lane closures in the area. The repairs should wrap up around 10:00 tonight.

We’re told the second break happened during the repair of the first break. Both breaks, a county employee said, were the result of blown valves.

The water main is thought to date back to the 1960s.

Residents in the area should expect reduced water pressure and possible sediment in the water. To be safe, those with low water pressure should either boil the water or wait for repairs to be completed.