Dirt should be moving this fall on a new interchange for the Rt. 7/Battlefield Parkway intersection.

The Leesburg Town Council recently signed off on two separate project administration agreements for the $58 million project. VDOT will oversee the two-year project because of its size and complexity. According to a staff report, VDOT has executed a contract for the work with Wagman Construction, and has issued a notice to proceed. The construction is expected to begin in October, with completion expected in late 2021.

As part of the timeline for the grade-separated interchange project, portions of Battlefield Parkway will close for a time during construction. According to Capital Projects Manager Terry Yates, Battlefield Parkway between Rt. 7 and Russell Branch Parkway, as well as just before the entrance into the Best Buy/Giant shopping center, is scheduled to close in September 2020 and remain closed for about 10 months. Yates said, however, “Much of the details are still being developed by the contractor and we should have a better understanding of the sequences and phases of the contractor’s schedule in the coming months.”

The design of the project chosen by the Town Council in spring 2018 will place a single-point urban interchange at the Rt. 7/Battlefield Parkway intersection, and will also do away with the traffic signal at the nearby Cardinal Park Drive intersection, creating only right-in, right-out access where it intersects with Rt. 7.

Yates said the first phases of construction of the project will involve prepping the detour routes for the maintenance of traffic and the relocation of utilities. The inside shoulders on Rt. 7, he said, will be converted to temporary through lanes.

“This is so the project does not take away lane capacity during construction,” he explained.

The contractor will also begin to make temporary improvements along the detour routes, including additional turn lanes and signal modifications at impacted intersections.

More information about the project can be found atvirginiadot.org/projects/northernvirginia/rt_7_at_battlefield_pkwy.asp.



krodriguez@loudounnow.com