A senior couple who lives in Arlington’s Glencarlyn neighborhood received free home repairs today thanks to a group of volunteers.
More than 30 volunteers from the local Rebuilding Together organization and Lowe’s worked throughout the day today to fix up the couple’s home inside and out. The couple was for the volunteer work based on need.
Arlington County plans to make permanent repairs to a sinkhole on Williamsburg Blvd in the coming weeks.
The sinkhole first appeared in February due to a water main break which created a small geyser near the corner of Williamsburg Blvd and Sycamore Street.
The exact site for the stand has yet to be announced, but BikeArlington expects it to be near the Pentagon City Metro station.
The County installed two other stands — one near the Clarendon Metro station and one near the Ballston Metro station — in the spring. Crystal City BID installed a similar stand near the Crystal City Water Park last year.
Arlington Ridge Road will be closed from 9:00 p.m.-3:00 a.m. Southbound traffic coming from I-395 will be re-routed east and west to 20th Street S. in both directions, and around to 23rd Street. Northbound traffic coming from Glebe Road will be re-routed east and west to 23rd Street S., and around to 20th Street.
The emergency water repair is necessary because an irrigation contractor working in the 2100 block of Arlington Ridge Road accidentally caused a leak. Water service needs to be replaced at that location, from the water main in the street to the meter box in the sidewalk.
Water Change Underway — The annual, temporary switch from chloramine to chlorine as the tap water disinfectant is beginning, as part of a flush of the water system. During this time, Arlington residents may notice a change in the taste and smell of their drinking water. The water system’s “spring cleaning” is scheduled to run through April 29. [Arlington County]
Ballston Garage to Get $3.5 Million in Repairs — The Arlington County Board on Saturday awarded a contract of up to $3.5 million for structural repairs to the eighth level of the Ballston Public Parking Garage. The eighth level of the garage was added in 2006, but the concrete was found to be deficient for long-term use — prompting claims that resulted in the county settling with the original contractor for an undisclosed sum. Kettler Capitals Iceplex, which is located on the top level of the garage, will remain open during the construction, which is expected to take 5-6 months. [Sun Gazette]
The contract will cover stabilization of the entire building’s foundation, in addition to repairing cracks in the bunk rooms. Some of the bunk rooms in the 15-year-old building already had cracks due to shifting of loose foundation soil under the building. But the earthquake last August 23 caused damage to spread to another two rooms, and to the entrance of the truck bay. In addition to repairing the existing damage, the work is designed to prevent future wall cracking.
Some of the work includes demolishing and replacing walls, repairing cracks and slab jacking to raise and stabilize the foundation. New structural steel columns, metal panels and windows will be installed. There will also be some utility relocation and the roof drain will be moved.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is planning to make some additional repairs to the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery, ARLnow.com has learned.
The repair work comes just over a year after engineers completed an initial series of repairs on the marble Tomb Monument, which has been cracking due to age. The repairs — which utilized “high-tech grout” to fill the crevices — were completed in April 2010 at a contract cost of $70,000. However, cracks are still visible across much of the nearly 80-year-old monument.
Update on 8/20 — The water main repair work has been completed, but crews are now working on a gas main leak in the same area. One lane is blocked in each direction.
Expect a slowdown on South Glebe Road between Columbia Pike and the Route 50 tonight, as crews work to repair a water main.
You might have noticed them around town: brick sidewalks torn up by utility work or some other sort of construction project. You’ll see a small pile of bricks (or “pavers”) by a street lamp and patches of asphalt where the bricks were removed.
We were recently asked whose repsonsibility it is to put the bricks back by a reader who was unhappy with the fact that the brick sidewalk in front of the Hyde Park Harris Teeter had been torn up more more than a month (it has since been fixed).
Dominion has brought in a crane to fix a transformer at Wilson Boulevard and North Randolph Street, across the street from Ballston Common Mall.
During the repairs, one lane of westbound Wilson Boulevard will be closed. The work is expected to wrap up between 5:00 and 5:30 tonight.
The cracks, which developed over the winter, were causing safety concerns on three of the six tennis courts and on the basketball courts. The work is expected to wrap up by the end of the month, a Parks Department spokesperson says.
