The Fairfax Drive exit from Route 50/Arlington Boulevard will be closed from Wednesday to Friday so that VDOT contractors can install new storm water infrastructure. The construction is part of the ongoing Arlington Boulevard/Courthouse Road/10th Street interchange project.
Lane closures are also planned in the area on both east- and westbound Route 50, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., through Friday.
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.
VDOT crews are on their way to the scene to clean up the loose gravel, but Arlington County officials say they don’t know long the clean-up will take.
Just before 9:30 a.m. a car slammed into the guardrail on westbound I-66 beneath the Patrick Henry Drive underpass, near the gravel spill. It’s not clear if the gravel caused or is somehow related to the accident.
In order to make your holiday traveling easier, the Virginia Department of Transportation is suspending most lane closures during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. Here’s what VDOT said in a release:
RICHMOND — The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) is clearing a path for travelers this holiday season by lifting lane closures over the extended Christmas and New Year’s weekends.
Two of three northbound lanes are closed on the Key Bridge due to a presidential speech in Georgetown.
The lane closures are causing traffic to back up in Rosslyn, before the bridge.
A ceremony is being held by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation to commemorate the statue unveiling, in front of the airport’s Terminal A.
Drivers should expect heavier-than-usual traffic around the arrivals and departures terminals due to lane closures for the event, airport officials said. Four lanes will merge into one to detour around the event site. There’s also a possibility that traffic will be completely blocked for short periods along the detour route.
The work has been on-going since late last night, after an underground cable was damaged by a contractor. Verizon says work in the intersection could continue through tomorrow morning.
“A contractor performing work to install traffic light control cables bored through one of our underground cables, affecting service for several hundred customers in the area,” said Verizon spokesman Harry J. Mitchell. “We will have to replace the damaged section of cable, and we’re preparing to do that. We hope to have all work done, and service restored to all customers, by 8:00 a.m. tomorrow (Oct. 7).”
(Updated at 9:35 a.m.) A Virginia State Police motorcycle officer was struck by an SUV this morning on the ramp from eastbound Columbia Pike to Washington Boulevard.
The extent of the officer’s injuries are unknown at this time, but initial reports suggested he was conscious and alert after the accident. The officer was quickly loaded onto an ambulance and taken to the hospital.
The work has blocked one westbound lane of 23rd Street and one southbound lane of Arlington Ridge Road.
Arlington County recently completed some curb, sidewalk and turn lane changes in the area in an effort to improve pedestrian safety. The county’s web site has additional information on the changes.
Construction blocked the sole northbound lane of N. Randolph Street at the Glebe Road intersection around lunchtime today.
A dump truck and a backhoe made travel on both northbound Randolph Street and northbound Glebe Road a bit tricky for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians. A lone worker with a florescent vest tried to get southbound traffic on Randolph to stay out of the turn lane so northbound traffic could get around the construction. Meanwhile, a lane was also blocked on northbound Glebe Road.
Drivers heading across the Glebe Road/Route 50 bridge are now encountering lane closures and heavier traffic during the day.
The bridge that carries Glebe Road traffic over Route 50 is being replaced over the next 15 months. Initially, we had been told that “any lane closures or shifts… will occur between 9:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m.” and that there would be “no major construction impacts… during the day.”
What was once the Lee Center strip mall is now a big, dusty hole in the ground.
Construction is well underway on what is known as the 2201 North Pershing Drive project. When work wraps up in mid-to-late 2012, the $75 million project at Route 50 and Pershing Drive will consist of 188 rental apartments and nearly 33,500 square feet of ground-level retail space.
