Construction now underway to widen Route 29 outside Centreville

Fairfax County and the Virginia Department of Transportation have kicked off construction to widen a 1.5-mile stretch of Route 29 near Centreville.

Though there will be a ceremonial groundbreaking today (Wednesday), construction on the project began Feb. 9 to add two lanes to the roadway between Union Mill Road and Buckleys Gate Drive.

By the time work finishes in spring 2026, there will be six lanes instead of four on that stretch of road. In addition to the new lanes, the project aims to make improvements to sight distance for drivers and shared-use paths on the roadway.

It will also connect pedestrian and bicycle trails located at the Fairfax County Parkway/West Ox Road interchange.

This work has been on VDOT’s radar for years, with the project first coming to the public at a meeting in October 2018. Notes from a 2019 public hearing say that a 2005 VDOT study “explored the feasibility of providing a continuous 6 lane section from Centreville to the City of Fairfax.”

“Over the past several years, portions of Route 29 have been widened to six lanes (three in each direction) between Centreville and the City of Fairfax,” Mike Murphy, a senior communications specialist at VDOT, wrote in an email to FFXnow.

After this widening, a continuous six-lane section will exist “along the five-mile stretch between Pickwick Road and Shirley Gate Road/Waples Mill Road to improve capacity and safety through the corridor,” Murphy wrote.

The project is removing trees between Stringfellow Road and Meadow Estates Drive on the north side of Route 29. To accommodate that work, residents will need to use alternate routes in place of part of Willow Pond Trail through April 2023.

The estimated cost is $97 million, and those dollars come from four sources: federal, state and local money, plus funding from a I-66 concession fee.

Today’s groundbreaking will be held on the Route 29 service road, near the Brightview Fair Oaks senior living facility. Two members of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors — Pat Herrity (Springfield) and Kathy Smith (Sully) — plan to attend.