RSSRoute 7 will undergo many changes as Metro work continues
Tysons Corner's ‘Main Street' turning into a massive construction site for three years
Construction activities along Route 7 in Tysons Corner will intensify in coming weeks, and the work won't let up until the new Metrorail stations are complete.
"2010 is going to be the heaviest impact construction year," said Marcia McAllister, a spokeswoman for the rail project.
Over the next six to eight weeks, the service roads that parallel the highway will close for good, eliminating a popular method of traversing the congested corridor.
"It comes at a time that a lot of businesses are noticing that they were just getting [the service roads] back," McAllister said.
Sections of the service roads have been closed periodically for utility relocation, a process that is now about 80 percent complete, McAllister said. All above-ground utility lines along Route 7 are being placed underground to make way for the above-ground rail line.
There will also be major lane shifts along the road in coming weeks, although there will always be three lanes in each direction open to traffic during peak hours.
Main travel lanes on the south side of Route 7 (eastbound) will bump out around the sites of the two future Metrorail stations that will be constructed in the middle of the road. For the construction period, the bump-out lanes will go into the area of the present-day service roads and even beyond, taking some parking spaces from the strip malls alongside the roadway.
In some areas where the service roads are several feet below the grade of the main road, the grade will have to be built up and retaining walls installed to support the lane shift, McAllister said.
Cars will enter and exit the shopping plazas and car dealerships directly from Route 7, and except for three remaining crossings, only right turns will be allowed in and out of the business properties on both sides of the one-mile stretch of road. Traffic lights will remain at Tyco Road, Spring Hill Road and Gosnell Road/Westpark Drive. U-turns will be allowed at all of those intersections, and ultimately dual left-turn lanes will be installed there.
Once all the changes are in place, they will remain in place for about three years, until the permanent new path of Route 7 is completed.
"It won't be something where you won't know what to expect on Monday morning," McAllister said.
Ultimately, all of the Route 7 travel lanes will extend to the boundaries of the present-day service roads. There will be four traffic lanes in both directions, with the elevated rail line and two stations in the middle.
A tunnel under the highest point in Tysons Corner, the interchange for routes 123 and 7, is under construction at the same time. Some pylons for the rail guideways are being installed along Route 123 and on the Dulles Connector road near Route 66, where the new rail extension will connect to the Orange Line in Falls Church.