The Tysons Community Alliance (TCA) wants to add a creative twist to what was originally planned as a straightforward refresh of a Dulles Toll Road bridge.
The nonprofit community improvement organization has been working with the artist Vicki Scuri on concepts for artwork that could transform the aging bridge over Route 123 (Dolley Madison Blvd) into gateway welcoming visitors entering Tysons from McLean.
As is often the case with both art and infrastructure-related endeavors, however, money could pose a challenge: the TCA is hoping to raise $500,000 through sponsorships to cover the cost of the Tysons-Scotts Run Gateway project.
“This is a lofty goal, but that will allow us to create all of those bridge elements that we’re showing,” TCA Director of Transportation and Mobility Sonali Soneji said at a webinar organized yesterday (Tuesday) to explain the project.
According to Soneji, the TCA developed the idea for a Tysons gateway near Scotts Run stream after the Virginia Department of Transportation began accepting public comments in February on its plan to rehabilitate the eastbound Dulles Toll Road bridge over Route 123.
Constructed in 1963, the bridge carries an average of 28,000 vehicles per day and has begun to visibly crumble. It was last repaired in 1995, according to VDOT.
With an estimated total cost of $12.6 million, the rehabilitation project currently has $1.3 million in state funding for preliminary engineering. The state funds are intended for bridge repairs and maintenance, so architectural upgrades weren’t considered in the project scope, Dipal Patel, a bridge project manager for VDOT, said.
By using lighting, patterns and other features to give the bridge a more unique design, TCA officials say they hope to create an “iconic” landmark that enhances Tysons’ identity as a community — a priority of the strategic plan that the organization released a year ago.
“We really believe this is a great opportunity on a timeline that VDOT was already working on,” TCA Director of Placemaking Jason Zogg said. “… You could see how dramatic this would be to change that sense of welcome, that sense of arrival in and out of Tysons.”
An artist who specializes in public spaces and infrastructure, Scuri has worked on similar “gateway” projects around the U.S., including two bridges over Arlington Blvd at Courthouse Road and 10th Street in Arlington County.
When considering the Tysons site, she was inspired by Scott’s Run stream and the connection it offers to the natural environment in the middle of an urban center. She then came up with two potential artistic concepts: a “ripple pattern” that evokes a flowing brook and a more minimalist “wave pattern” inspired by light reflecting off of glass.
Both concepts incorporate blue coloring — a color often used by the TCA — as well as steel grillwork and LED lights that could either stay static or change colors. Scuri says she initially considered earth tones as the color scheme, but blue was identified as the main color associated with Tysons at a stakeholders’ meeting held weeks ago.
“People really like the blue because it actually reflects more of the buildings and the skyline and how the sky is reflected in the glass, and that’s how it came about,” Scuri said. “So, it has been kind of vetted with a larger audience.”
According to the TCA, the gateway’s design needs to be finalized by the end of May to meet VDOT’s deadlines for construction on the bridge rehabilitation, which is expected to begin in spring 2026, per the department’s project website.
Because of the relatively limited timeline, the TCA opted to focus its Scotts Run gateway project on the bridge slated for rehabilitation, but Zogg, who is also spearheading the alliance’s efforts to beautify road interchanges in Tysons, intends to develop a concept plan for vehicle, pedestrian and bicyclist gateways throughout the area.
That plan could include extending Scuri’s art concept to the other three toll road and airport access road bridges over Route 123.
“We hope that this is the first of multiple gateway projects in the future,” Zogg said.
