Mt. Vernon Avenue, between E. Bellefonte and E. Nelson, is filled with construction equipment and temporary patches.
"This is the final phase of the utility undergrounding project," said Emily Baker, Alexandria's city engineer. "This was all begun as part of the revitalization of Mt. Vernon Avenue and we are nearing the completion of that work."
The city has been working with Verizon, Comcast and Dominion Virginia Power to underground utilities along Mt. Vernon Avenue since the late 1980s. Phase Five of that project is now underway.
The city has hired a contractor to place conduit under Mt. Vernon Avenue. "The roads are in bad shape now because we won't allow the contractor to leave the street with holes in it when there is no construction work occurring," Baker said. "Every night, they put temporary patches down and continue with their work the next day."
THE CONDUIT will be laid by the end of August. At that time, the road will be repaired in a more permanent way. After the conduit is there, the utility companies will run their lines through the conduit and then remove utility poles.
"We can't control exactly when the companies are going to have this done," Baker said. "This work is part of the requirements in their franchise agreements with the city, though, so we expect it to be done as quickly as possible."
The goal is to complete all work by next spring. "Then, next summer, we can work on the streetscape," Baker said. "Temporarily, it's very inconvenient for everyone but, in the end, it will benefit residents and businesses."
FOR THE NEXT three weeks, until Aug. 8, King Street will be closed while CSX replaces railroad ties on the King Street overpass. This is routine maintenance and is not part of the fight that the city of Alexandria and the company had last year over that same bridge.
CSX has obtained permission to close King Street between Russell Road and Cameron Street from 11:00 p.m. to 5:30 a.m., Sunday through Thursday. All of the work will be completed in the next three weeks.
The Virginia Department of Transportation is planning to repair the I-395 Bridge at Sanger Avenue. Most of the work is being done on the deck of the bridge but there may be lane closures on Sanger. VDOT hopes to begin this project some time in the next week.