Fast Forward

Northern Virginia's Route 28 project speeds toward completion

By Bruce Buckley

Fueled by a public-private partnership that allows the design and construction team considerable control, $200 million of improvements along the Route 28 corridor are on schedule to be completed in less than half the time of traditional design-bid-build methods.

The Route 625 interchange, pictured here under construction, is a partial cloverleaf interchange and a four-lane bridge carrying Route 625 over Route 28 with a flyover ramp from northbound 28 to westbound 625. The heavy flow of westbound traffic is split by two exits - a loop ramp (bottom right) that handles vehicles heading to AOL and the flyover ramp (top left) that serves through-traffic heading to Ashburn.

Things move quickly in Loudoun County, Va., these days, and the construction team on the Route 28 corridor project has embraced that spirit.

During the past decade, Loudoun has emerged as the fastest-growing county in the United States, and the strain can be felt along the crowded lanes of Route 28 - a major artery cutting across the eastern edge of Loudoun into neighboring Fairfax County. Since October 2002, general contractor Clark Construction of Bethesda, Md., and its subsidiary, Shirley Contracting of Lorton, Va., have been working with Virginia DOT and designer Dewberry & Davis of Fairfax, Va., to design and build nearly $200 million in improvements along Route 28 between State Route 7 and Interstate 66.

Halfway through the project's tight four-year schedule, the partnership, collectively known as Route 28 Corridor Improvements LLC, is right on course.

The fast-track project is the first in northern Virginia developed through the Public-Private Transportation Act of 1995. Ultimate plans call for the creation of a 14-mi. limited-access highway, which includes widening it from six to eight lanes, removing 15 traffic signals and adding 10 interchanges. Six of those interchanges are funded under the current phase. Substantial completion is expected in November 2006 with final completion in May 2007.

Under terms of the contract, the construction team is overseeing most major aspects of the process, including design, construction, utility relocation, permitting and right-of-way acquisition. Adding right-of-way and utility duties into the design-build process has paid the biggest dividends, said Susan Shaw, Route 28 project manager for VDOT.

"By including both of those we've seen a tremendous improvement over our traditional project schedule," she said.

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Unclogging the backups

Construction of the Route 625 interchange, the project's largest intersection, put the team's abilities to the test. In recent years, the existing intersection had created some of the worst backups along Route 28 as commuters turned on westbound 625 toward AOL's corporate park and neighboring Ashburn. The design solution was to create a partial cloverleaf interchange and a four-lane bridge carrying Route 625 over Route 28 with a flyover ramp from northbound 28 to westbound 625. The heavy flow of westbound traffic is split by two exits - a loop ramp on the right that handles vehicles heading to AOL and the flyover ramp located in the left lane that serves through-traffic heading to Ashburn.

Westbound Route 625 was widened from four to six lanes. The intersection also handles traffic flow to businesses near the intersection that lost direct access to Route 28 as the interchange was built.

The busy intersection is one of the biggest commercial areas along the corridor, making it the most complicated area in terms of acquiring right-of-way. The team needed to acquire around 90 parcels to complete the intersection, but it focused on adding the most critical parcels first to get construction started.

The existing intersection at Route 625 created some of the worst backups along Route 28 as commuters (top left) turned on westbound 625 toward AOL's corporate park and neighboring Ashburn.

As one area of the intersection was being constructed, right-of-way and utility work was being done simultaneously in other areas.

"That interchange began without one single piece of right-of-way cleared or utility moved," Shaw said. "The contractor was able to go in from day one and see where they could get right of way first so they could start construction. Then [Shirley] phased the work accordingly."

VDOT estimated that under a traditional design-bid-build process, right-of-way and utility work would have taken 24 to 36 months before construction could begin. On that schedule, construction would have been set to begin in summer 2005. Instead, using the project's encompassing design-build method, work on the interchange began in 2002 and it was open to traffic by December 2004.

But meeting its schedule demanded firm commitment by all parties, said Dave Mahoney, project manager at Dewberry & Davis. The construction team and VDOT missed only one weekly meeting during the first 26 months on the job and they worked together on an almost daily basis to handle any hiccups, Mahoney said.

VDOT has also kept its commitment to turn around plan reviews within 15 days, Mahoney added.

"We haven't made many changes during construction because everyone gave their input in a timely fashion during the design process," he said. "The wheels could fall off this thing at anytime if people start to lose their focus. This is a multiyear project and it can be difficult to keep someone's attention for that long, but we're all doing it the way it should be done."

Multimillion dollar saving

The team faced its first big challenge at Route 625 near the beginning of the job. Despite planning and budgeting for utility relocation, the team discovered a 24-in. waterline that it hadn't previously identified.

When the construction team began work on the Route 625 interchange, it discovered a 24-in. waterline that it hadn't previously identified. VDOT's limited-access restrictions would normally require that the waterline be moved completely out of the interchange footprint. During a three-month period, VDOT relaxed its access rules, Dewberry came up with a cost-effective redesign and Shirley began building a 30-ft. retaining wall that left 90 percent of the waterline in place.

VDOT's limited-access restrictions would normally require that the waterline be moved completely out of the interchange footprint, said Jon Harmon, development manager for Route 28 Corridor Improvements. During a three-month period, VDOT relaxed its access rules, Dewberry came up with a cost-effective redesign and Shirley began building a 30-ft. retaining wall that left 90 percent of the waterline in place, Harmon said.

"Instead of a couple of million dollars in changes that would have thrown a monkey wrench in the works from day one, it was a no-cost win for everyone," he added. "It really set the tone for the job."

The team faced another potential holdup as it worked on plans to widen Route 625. The Washington & Old Dominion Trail - a state-operated, multiuse, rails-to-trails path - crosses Route 625 near the new interchange. Even as construction was going on to open up the interchange, the team was working with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources and other state agencies to get the necessary approvals to change the W&OD crossing.

"Normally, the whole project would have been held up until all of that was settled," Mahoney said. "Instead we were able to open the interchange on time and now there are no longer 80,000 cars sitting at that intersection everyday."

Funding a Freeway