Westbound Old Keene Mill Road and Lee Chapel Road has a construction bottleneck that doesn't seem to be getting any better.
Traffic backs up westbound in the afternoons, eastbound in the mornings, and north or south on Lee Chapel Road all day. The construction has gone on since February 2000, according to the Virginia Department of Transportation.
From the road, though, it appears like a simple task of extending a lane and making the intersection a smooth transition. The backups occur right in front of the Burke Town Plaza, where the two lanes merge into one. Burke resident Kathy Gaines knows this merge area all too well.
"I am anxious for it to be finished, it's horrible," she said, pointing to the area on Old Keene Mill Road where cars speed past in the right lane and merge in right before the construction site.
"That's where it gets really backed up," she said.
Burke resident Jenny Caskey goes through the intersection a few times a week. She compares it with the construction on Burke Centre Parkway last summer.
"I live in Burke Centre, and the Burke Centre Parkway took no time. That's [the intersection] taking a long time. They're digging up a lot of stuff, I don't know what they're doing," she said.
<mh>Penalties
<bt>According to VDOT engineer John DePasquale, the district construction engineer for Northern Virginia, there was a completion date of December 2001, and the contractor, Golden Eagle, did not meet it. Penalties were assessed.
"We give him a fixed date, and he has to work to that. He had by the end of last year [2001]. He gets assessed liquidated damages," according to DePasquale.
Supervisor Elaine McConnell’s efforts to speed up the project have not been successful. She points the finger at the builder, Golden Eagle, as well.
"He's months behind, we're very frustrated. I'm sure that they (VDOT) are just as frustrated as we are. This has been the most difficult project," she said.
The Bike Lane shop owner Todd Mader looks out every day at the progress outside his shop at the plaza. Business is up, but he looks forward to the warm weather, which is bike season in his world.
"I don't know what their original time frame was, it would be nice to have it over. It doesn't seem to be affecting business, the shopping center is usually full," he said.
The latest completion date is the summer of 2002, according to VDOT spokesperson Ryan Hall. He also noted the overall goal.
"We don't want to create more backups than there are," Hall said, noting that relocating utilities is another timely process.
DePasquale put it in simple terms: "You have a contractor that lacks manpower and equipment."