Fairfax County Pkwy Extension, Phases I II & IV
Location: Springfield, Virginia
Client: Virginia Department of Transportation / Federal Highway Administration - Eastern Federal Lands Highway Division
JMT served as lead designer for a major design-build roadway
project as part of the BRAC program.
The Fairfax County Parkway (FCP)
completed a vital link to I-95 in northern Virginia. This $112
million Design-Build project was highly publicized as critical to
the success of the region's Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC)
initiative, as it provided the needed highway improvements to
address traffic impacts of the U.S. Army relocating 8,500 jobs to
the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) Campus East at
the Fort Belvoir North Area.
This fast track project included many environmental challenges,
such as the presence of contaminated soil/groundwater, and possible
unexploded ordnance in the Fort Belvoir Engineering Proving Ground
which the alignment traversed. The parkway crossed five
former firing ranges and testing sites, including three Resource
Conservation and Recovery Act sites that had significant
groundwater and soil contamination, and stringent Land Use Controls
required by an EPA Consent Order to protect human health and the
environment. These environmental issues required special
coordination with Fort Belvoir environmental staff as well as
environmental permitting with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for
bridge construction over Accotink Creek. All environmental impacts
were successfully addressed.
During the bidding process, JMT prepared Alternate Technical
Concepts that improved the overall project design and provided
significant reductions in construction costs.
Project phases were completed sooner than scheduled, allowing
them to be open to traffic months ahead of their planned
dates. President Obama made two visits to the project,
initially to indicate the importance of the project to the Northern
Virginia roadway network, and secondly for Phase IV, which was
heralded for the project's timely and effective use of ARRA
funds.
Major components of this project included:
Highways & Bridges -
Design of roadways; interchanges; four new bridges; one bridge
widening and a multipurpose trail alongside a portion of the road;
retaining walls; sound walls; maintenance of traffic; signing; and
lighting.
Traffic Engineering/ITS - JMT performed traffic
analysis and the design of roadway lighting associated with the
construction of the Fairfax County Parkway. Traffic analysis
consisted of Highway Capacity and SYNCHRO analysis. This
included the design of full and partial interchange lighting and
crossroad lighting. JMT prepared base plans, determined
right-of-way and easements required, and prepared layout of poles
and conduits.
Water Resources Management - JMT was
responsible for the hydraulic and hydrologic analysis and scour
analysis report. The project was located in a detailed FEMA study
area and involved several structures as well as the upstream and
downstream extension of an existing 1,000 foot long box culvert
over Fieldlark Branch that required a plunge pool design due to
high velocity. To save the contractor the cost of additional fill
material if the culvert was extended downstream maintaining the
same culvert slope, the culvert downstream extension was dropped by
four feet and analyzed using the Broken-back Culvert Program
(BCAP).
Utility Designating and
Locating - JMT performed various surveying and utility
designating and locating tasks. Specific surveys included the
establishment of survey control using GPS, utility designation,
records research and CADD design file compilation of the on-site
existing utilities.
Graphics - JMT's
in-house graphic artists developed and provided presentations and
displays, including detailed renderings and drawings, for community
meetings. A project website was created to include login for
file uploading to secured and public area.
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