Drivers heading through Vienna on Maple Avenue might’ve encountered some construction work over the past month.
Since mid-June, contractor Sagres Construction has been working to replace the brick crosswalks and curb ramps at the commercial thoroughfare’s intersections with East Street and Lawyers Road.
The improvements will bring the intersections up to current Americans with Disabilities Act standards, according to Town of Vienna staff. While the new ramps at East Street are now in place, their installation is still underway at Lawyers.
“The concrete work (replacing the handicap ramps) will be done during the day,” project manager Alsinia Ervin said by email. “However, removing the brick crosswalks at Maple at Lawyers and restoring the asphalt at both intersections will be done at night.”
The brick crosswalks are being replaced with “stamped asphalt similar to what exists” at the Church Street and Mill Road intersection, Ervin says.
The construction has required some closures of lanes and sidewalks, slowing down traffic. All work is currently scheduled to wrap up by the end of July.
East Street and Lawyers aren’t the only intersections on Maple Avenue receiving upgrades: the town is also enhancing the signalization technology throughout the Maple and Nutley Street corridors.
Building on an overhaul of the Maple and Park Street traffic signal, which was one of the oldest Vienna, the $2.1 million signalization project is installing new traffic management software, communications devices and video cameras that will enable real-time monitoring of and adjustments to the traffic flow.
According to the project page, the new technology will give the town the ability to:
- modify phase sequence and patterns systemwide or at individual intersections in response to specific traffic conditions
- optimize traffic flow with technology that can automatically self-adjust signal timings
- proactively analyze performance and trends
- make modifications at problem areas to reduce vehicle delay and queueing and provide better chances for “arrival on green” (a significant volume of traffic arriving at an intersection during the green phase indicates that timing between signals is well coordinated)
- make adjustments for morning and evening peak periods
The intersections eyed for traffic signal upgrades were identified by an inventory and needs assessment completed in December 2018.
While the report recommended modernizing all signals, it pointed to the intersections of Nutley and Tapawingo Road, Maple (Route 123) and Follin Lane, Beulah Road and Church Street, and Follin Lane and Echols Street as ones in need of full replacements “if sufficient budget is available.”
The Town of Vienna ultimately obtained funding for the project through a Virginia Department of Transportation SmartScale grant and a $170,000 contribution from Hekemian & Company, the developer behind the approved but still-stagnant 444 Maple Avenue West project.
Construction on the signal upgrades began around spring and summer 2024 and is expected to finish this fall, according to Andrew Jinks, a transportation engineer and planner for Vienna.
The most visible changes will be at the Nutley/Tapawingo and Maple/Follin intersections, where full rebuilds of the traffic signals are nearly complete.
“Once the actual physical construction is completed, staff will need some time to fully optimize the new system,” Jinks told FFXnow.
With all Nutley and Maple signals getting the technology and communication upgrades, only a few intersections outside those corridors will need to be connected to the new system, Jinks says.
The town is still planning to fully replace and upgrade the signal at Church Street and Beulah Road, but that future project isn’t yet in the works.
