After 30 years the final link of Van Dorn Street connecting it to Telegraph Road was officially dedicated. It is only one-half mile in length and an asphalt tribute to bureaucracy counterbalanced by perseverance.
During a tongue-in-cheek ceremony Tuesday night at the Kingstowne Snyder Center, Supervisor Dana Kauffman (D-Lee) distributed symbolic "wood turtles" to those who had suffered through the three decade struggle to complete the link. Displacement of the turtles was one of the environmental obstacles that elongated the process.
"This road started when I was a junior in high school," Kauffman told those assembled for the ceremony. "It actually opened at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, April 26, that's why this is not a ribbon cutting ceremony."
"Once it was complete we promised the people there would be no ribbon cutting ceremony to interrupt traffic. We made a commitment we'd just pull the jersey walls and run and that's exactly what we did."
"There have been many adventures along the way — from endangered species in the form of wood turtles, to wetlands discovery, to rain and lots of it," said Kauffman.
JOINING KAUFFMAN as speakers at the community center were Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald Connolly (D-At-large); Joseph Alexander, former Lee District supervisor, who occupied that office when the project was conceived in 1974; and Carl Sell, former Lee District Planning Commissioner.
"Hats off to the leaders of Lee District, particularly Dana and the Fairfax County Department of Transportation for completing this project," Connolly said. "Our four year transportation plan calls for a number of transportation projects. This is just one example."
"I was very happy when Dana took over this project and it finally got done," Alexander said. "The environmental fixes cost a lot more than the road," added Sell.
"Roads just don't happen. Some folks began their careers with plans for this road and retired before they actually got to drive on it," Kauffman said. To accentuate the passage of years since the extension first appeared on county plans, the center of each table had an assemblage of small plastic dinosaurs interspersed with Hershey chocolate kisses.
"We also have a memento for all of you who have gathered here tonight," said Kauffman. "The dinosaurs are what we found on the site back when we originally approved the plans for the road construction. Please take one with you tonight as a reminder."
In the program for the event, Kauffman had written, "While we're accustomed to the glacial pace of road construction here in Northern Virginia, the Van Dorn extension, however, might best be viewed in a geologic time frame. How could it possibly have taken just over 30 years to build half a mile of road?"
A PART of Fairfax County's Comprehensive Plan since 1974, the extension became a condition of the Kingstowne development plan in the mid 1980s. The developer of Kingstowne agreed to build the road to connect Franconia Road to Telegraph as a part of the overall development plan.
Phase II from Franconia Road to South King Center Drive occurred on schedule. Phase III, from there to Telegraph Road, turned into a saga of government bureaucracy, environmental road blocks and plain bad weather. First, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers halted construction "because the developer had not obtained the required wetlands permits," said Kauffman.
These required "a huge array of mitigation measures" including property swaps, building water control ponds, and completely re-engineering the road. Then came the wet years and the "wetlands" lived up to their name.
Next came the Virginia Department of Transportation requiring appropriate markings before the road could be opened. That procedure required consistent temperatures above 50 degrees and dry pavement. On top of everything else was the wood turtle.
As Kauffman pointed out, "Planning a road is easy. Making it happen takes, money, time and Biblical patience."