RELEASE: CONTACT:

IMMEDIATE Joan Morris 703-383-2465 joan.morris@VDOT.Virginia.gov Ryan Hall 703-383-2055

NOVA-NR06-13 May 1, 2006

McLearen Road Bridge over Route 28 Opens to Traffic May 3

The new two-lane McLearen Road bridge over Route 28 in Fairfax County will open to traffic in time for the afternoon rush hour on Wednesday, May 3, according to the Virginia Department of Transportation. The bridge is part of the new Route 28/McLearen Road interchange that will be completed in June.

VDOT, members of the Route 28 Corridor Improvements team and local officials will cut the ribbon on Tuesday, May 2 at 10 a.m. on the new Route 28 and McLearen Road bride in Fairfax County.

The Route 28 interchange at McLearen Road will be the fifth of six interchanges on Route 28 to be constructed as part of the agreement signed in 2002 between the Commonwealth of Virginia, The Clark Construction Group Inc. and Shirley Contracting Company LLC to design and build six interchanges along the bottlenecked Route 28 corridor in Fairfax and Loudoun counties under the Public-Private Transportation Act (PPTA).

By removing the traffic signal at the intersection of McLearen Road and Route 28 motorists will no longer sit in backups which extend to Route 50 during the morning rush hours.

Once traffic is shifted to the new bridge May 3, crews will continue building the ramp from westbound McLearen Road to northbound Route 28. Until the ramp opens in June, motorists wanting to access Route 28 via McLearen Road will use Centreville Road to Frying Pan Road to access Route 28.

The original 14-mile widening of Route 28, from Route 7 in Loudoun County to I-66 in Fairfax County, began in 1987 and was completed in 1991. Route 28 was transformed from a two-lane road to a six-lane divided highway with interchanges at Routes 50, 7 and the Dulles Toll Road. A total of ten interchanges are planned for the Route 28 corridor as part of the design-build contract under the PPTA.

Funding for the Route 28 corridor is a combination of public and private funds, with 75 percent of the corridor improvements supported by the Route 28 special tax district. State and County funds make up the remainder of the total cost of the project.
Construction Schedule for the Six Interchanges on Route 28
Interchange Start Open to Traffic
Air & Space Museum Parkway Feb. 2003 December 2003
Waxpool/Church Road Feb. 2003 December 2004
Old Ox Road May 2003 November 2004
Westfields Boulevard August 2004 October 2005
McLearen Road February 2005 June 2006
Sterling Boulevard October 2005 Mid-2007


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NR06-13