The third phase of a project to widen Route 123 between Burke Lake Road and the Occoquan River in Fairfax and Prince William Counties is just over halfway completed, currently running on time and on budget.
"This will be a four-lane road for eight miles," said Ryan Hall, a representative for the Virginia Department of Transportation which is overseeing the project.
"When completed, we will have two 12-feet wide lanes in each direction with a 41-foot wide median and pedestrian trails on the northbound side," said Hall. Traffic signals at Henderson, Silverbrook, Crosspointe, Hampton, Furnace and Hooes roads, along with Davies Drive and Occoquan Regional Park will also be installed, he said.
The project, which began in May 2003, should be completed by May 31, 2006, said Hall. "They're so confident they put the full date on the signs, which doesn't happen often," he said of the crews responsible for the project.
"This is a major facility we have pushed for for years and years," said Supervisor Gerald "Gerry" Hyland (D-Mount Vernon) of the expansion. "This will make it easier for residents in the southwestern part of Fairfax County to get to the southeastern part of the county, or up to Reston and Fair Oaks."
WIDENING ROUTE 123 will help ease some of the "bottlenecks in terms of having another way to get across the county," said Hyland, and will "help bleed traffic off the Beltway and Route 1. This is long, long overdue. This is a wonderful addition to our transportation network."
Aside from some unavoidable weather delays, work on the road expansion has been going smoothly, said Jamie Hill, a foreman from Apec Paving Crew, hired to pave the expanded area.
"This is the best construction crew we've worked with and they're doing a good job," said Jamie Hill, referring to Branch Highways Inc., the Roanoke-based construction company he and his crews have been working with for over a year.
"People were so anxious to get out on the road they were flying through," said Hill, when two earlier portions of the project were opened to traffic. "This new area won't be a racetrack," he said, with a laugh.
Finishing the project by spring is a likely target, said Hill. "I can't see us finishing everything in the cold weather."
The pedestrian trail, an increasingly popular feature in a portion of the county where the population has more than doubled in recent years, will start at the Fairfax County Cross County Trail, near the Fairfax County Parkway, and follow alongside the northbound lanes of the road, said Branch Highways foreman Ronnie Miller.
"The trail will cross over near Lorton Road and then follow the southbound part of the road to the bridge over the Occoquan River," he said.
As the population around the work site has continued to grow, Miller said he hasn't seen an increase in traffic yet.
"The cars still get lined up from the bridge to the shopping center every morning," he said. "Sometimes it goes all the way back to Route 1 if you don't time it right."
Awaiting drivers near the Occoquan River will be a new bridge — eventually.
"The bridge is supposed to be completed by the end of next year," said Elaine McConnell (R-Springfield). "We've been working on it for a long time but it has been delayed because of contractor problems. I've tried to get a completion date from VDOT but they're still not sure when it'll be finished."