Max Smith, wtop.com
WASHINGTON – A major project to widen Route 1 near Fort Belvoir is one step further along.
Fairfax County BRAC Coordinator Laura Miller says after a shortlist of contractors was released Friday morning, a formal request for proposals on the project will go out next week, “then we’re off to the races.”
The project will widen Route 1 from four to six lanes from Telegraph Road to Mount Vernon Memorial Highway, and upgrade some intersections along the 3.4 mile stretch. The Defense Department is contributing $180 million to pay for the project as part of improvements to serve sites that have more workers due to the base realignment.
Miller says the plan is to award the contract early next year.
“There will be a period of months where it’ll be under design, but maybe before the end of 2013 we’ll start to see some construction. Target completion of the entire project: mid-2016,” she says.
During the construction, the plan is to keep two lanes open in both directions as much as possible, while also making sure commuters and other drivers in the area have other options available.
“As part of the governor’s task force on the Mark Center, there’s a concerted effort to really look hard at the whole north-south corridor between Stafford County and Washington, D.C., and there’s a group that’s looking at making sure there aren’t multiple closures on the I-95/395-Route 1 corridor simultaneously that will completely gridlock traffic,” Miller says.
“We’re trying to ensure that on any given day there are relief routes for folks,” she adds.
That relief will be important as “>ramps up on I-95.
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