WASHINGTON — One of the busiest bridges into Tysons is getting an overhaul, and construction this week is expected to impact overnight drivers.
The overpass that carries Virginia State Route 7 over the Dulles Toll Road is being replaced, and work to raise the height of Route 7 and widen the road has been underway for a year.
Work on the eastbound bridge will require occasional stoppages of westbound traffic on the Dulles Toll Road and the Dulles Access Road during the overnight hours, according to the Virginia Department of Transportation. The work will take place Monday night through Friday night.
The bridge work is only expected to impact westbound drivers on the toll road and access road during the early morning hours this week. Although single-lane closures are possible, delays for eastbound drivers are expected to be minimal.
“We’re closing the road 20 minutes at a time between midnight and 5 a.m. those nights in order to install beams for the new Route 7 overpass,” said Mike Murphy of VDOT.
Travelers headed to Dulles International Airport for early morning flights, Murphy said, should plan for potential delays. But while the contractor is allowed to periodically stop traffic, he added, the road will not be closed the entire time.
“We are widening the road on the approaches and widening the bridge from two lanes in each direction to three because that’s the main feature of the much larger Route 7 widening project,” Murphy said.
The bridge project extends from Tyco Road to Jarrett Valley Drive in Tysons, while the broader initiative to widen Route 7 extends well west into Reston.
In addition to the replacement of the bridge abutments and spans, a new pedestrian path will wind through the interchange. The path will tunnel under many of the on- and offramps on the north and south side of the Dulles Toll Road.
The new westbound bridge was opened to traffic last December. The entire project is expected to wrap up by spring 2018.
About 60,000 vehicles use Route 7 near the Dulles Toll Road every day.
