Fairfax County Parkway Widening Project

November 14, 2024 – Annual Meeting VDOT Presentation

This year’s Annual Meeting included a presentation by VDOT and Shirley Construction, the
Design/Build contractor for the section of the project through Fairfax Station. The “slide”
presentation described the design/build process and provided graphics of the various road lane changes, possible sound wall changes affecting the neighborhood, and specifics of the parkway/Burke Centre Pkwy intersection and Rt, 123/Robert Carter intersection. The presentation included significant Q & A’s and discussions.

April 14, 2020 - Fairfax County Board Approves Parkway Widening Project

The Fairfax County Board approved the design plans for the Fairfax County Parkway widening, including the grade separated interchange at Popes Head Road. After an extensive community engagement period, relief is finally on the way for this congested and dangerous interchange. This project will:

  • Construct the interchange at Popes Head Road and the Fairfax County Parkway and allow for the future construction of the long-planned extension of Shirley Gate Road from Braddock Road to the Parkway.
  • Widen the Parkway to three lanes in each direction from Route 29 to Route 123.
  • Make Improvements at the Burke Centre Parkway/Fairfax County Parkway intersection as well as the 123 interchange.
  • Provide a continuous shared-use path along the Parkway by building the missing piece of trail between 123 and Burke Centre Parkway

Supervisor Herrity highlighted the following priorities associated with the final design. These include:

  • The community desire to keep the feel and aesthetics of a parkway for the Popes Head Interchange rather than a “concrete canyon” design like the interchange at Fair Lakes Parkway – this was accomplished but at a cost of additional right of way at the Popes Head interchange. The bulk of the Fairfax County Parkway in this section will have grass medians except where barriers are needed to improve safety and prevent crossover accidents.
  • The community desire to have roundabouts rather than traffic lights at the new Popes Head Road grade separate interchange – this was accomplished but at a cost of additional right of way
  • The community desire to keep full access at the Burke Centre Parkway as opposed to the right in, right out originally proposed. The Board approved Supervisor Cook’s and my request to look at an interchange in the long term – this is considered important by Burke Centre merchants and residents and also has the support of Supervisor Walkinshaw.
  • The desire to limit the impact to a planned church in the northeast corner of the Popes Head and Fairfax County Parkway intersection – accomplished.

As expected with any project of this magnitude, there were a few issues that we were not able to address. The most impactful and noticeable of these was inability to get sound walls for many of the residents in the lower density and rural areas along the parkway due to federal and state regulations.

I was not in favor of some residents’ request to remove a key transportation link from our transportation map. The Shirley Gate extension is projected to handle over 12,000 vehicles per day and provides critical relief to Braddock Road and 123. The Shirley Gate Extension project is currently funded at $14 Million (funded through design and partial right of way) and is a county priority because of the congestion relief it provides.

Land acquisition for the Popes Head Road interchange should start later this year.

December 12, 2019 - VDOT Design Public Hearing

VDOT held a Design Public Hearing for the Parkway Widening Project on December 12, 2019. This was a more official meeting described as a Hearing rather than a Public Information Meeting as in the past. There was a stenographer recording the entire meeting, unlike in the past when that was not done. The focus of the presentation only briefly touched on the general design of the project, which is presumably in the final stage, but rather covered the major subjects associated with the design process; for example, the Project Overview to include detailed drawings of each of the sections of roadway, the Right-of-Way Process, and the very extensive Environmental Assessment which includes Noise Analysis.

November 6, 2019 - VDOT Public Meeting

  • The most current design of the Parkway and Burke Center Pkwy intersection reflects a change from previous versions. The light at the intersection will remain, as will the 2 left-turn lanes from the southbound Parkway. However, those left-turn lanes will be restricted, not allowing turns between 6-9 am. This will allow for uninterrupted flow northbound during the morning rush. Right turns onto the Parkway from Burke Center continues to be uninterrupted and the merge lane has been extended to provide easier merge. The left turn from Burke Center remains eliminated. There is no detail design yet for the Rt. 123 intersection, only the overall plan for 3 left turn lanes from the exit ramp onto Rt. 123.   
  • The project has been broken into 3 phases. Phase 1 is the Popes Head intersection. Funding is available for this phase, with construction 2022-2024. Phase 2 is the portion from Popes Head to Rt. 29/Home Depot. Funding is only partially available at this time, with construction 2023-2025. Phase 3 is from Popes Head to Rt. 123. As yet there has been no funding for this section, with construction 2025-2026.
  • The actual extension of Shirley Gate to meet with Popes Head is scheduled for 2025.

For more details on costs, timelines and map graphics, check out the November 6 Meeting Materials.