Design work is underway on Reston’s massive $235 million Soapstone Connector, a half-mile road that will eventually link Sunrise Valley Drive to Sunset Hills Road through a bridge over the Dulles Toll Road.
The Virginia Department of Transportation is set to host a public information meeting on the project next Thursday, Oct. 10 at South Lakes High School (11400 South Lakes Drive). An open house will begin at 6:30 p.m., followed by a presentation at 7 p.m.
The new road will have two lanes — one in each direction — separated by a painted median. Pedestrian and bicycle upgrades include on-road bike lanes, a shared-use path on the east and a sidewalk on the west.
The project will also upgrade the traffic signal at Sunrise Valley Drive and Soapstone Drive. A signal could be added at the new road’s intersection at Sunset Hills Road, but planners haven’t determined if it’s warranted yet.
“This project aims to reduce delays at the Reston Parkway (Route 607) and Wiehle Avenue (Route 828) crossings over the Dulles Toll Road and improve accessibility, connectivity and mobility in the area of the Wiehle-Reston East Metrorail station,” VDOT says on its project page.
According to VDOT, the project will utilize a combination of federal, state, local and regional funding to cover its estimated cost of $235 million, including $9.2 million for preliminary engineering, $136.8 million for right-of-way acquisition and utility relocation and $89 million for construction.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved the project in 2022 after transportation staff studied roughly 31 alternatives. The favored option has the southern terminus at the intersection of Soapstone Drive and Sunrise Valley Drive, while the northern terminus would connect to Sunset Hills Road.
The proposed route raised concerns about impacts on Association Drive, which is a designated historic district. An analysis by the county found that the project would disrupt nine of 10 sites potentially eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.
However, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) issued a finding in November 2023 that the project will have no significant impact on the environment, including on historic properties.
“The U.S. Department of the Interior agreed that there is no feasible and prudent alternative to the use of land from the Association Drive Historic District, and also concurred that that the selected alternative is the alternative that causes the least overall harm,” said the report signed by FHWA Division Administrator Thomas Nelson Jr.
According to the report, FHWA, Virginia’s state historic preservation officer, VDOT and the Board of Supervisors have an agreement to mitigate the historic impacts by conducting building and landscape surveys, installing three markers identifying the Association Drive Historic District and releasing a public history report.
The FHWA decision enabled the Soapstone Connector to advance to the design stage, with VDOT taking over from Fairfax County as the project manager.
Following next week’s meeting, VDOT will accept public comments until Nov. 1, and a public hearing on the project’s location and design is expected in late 2025.
It will be several years before construction begins. With right-of-way acquisition beginning in 2027 and utility relocation in mid-2030, the project is currently scheduled to kick off construction in late 2032.
Map via FCDOT
