Alexandria and Arlington officials celebrated the ribbon cutting for the renovated West Glebe Road bridge today.
The nearly 70-year-old bridge suffered severe deterioration over the years and fully closed last summer, and partially reopened in March.
Alexandria and Arlington have been building bridges and celebrating outside the Arlandria Pizza Hut.
Leaders from both the Arlington County Board and the Alexandria City Council are scheduled to meet tomorrow (Tuesday) at the Arlandria Pizza Hut (1049 W Glebe Road) to celebrate the West Glebe Road Bridge ribbon cutting.
This could be the start of something big.
In February, Alamgir Mia opened AJ Tobacco & Mini Mart at 1037 W. Glebe Road in the former Look Sharp Cleaners. It’s the first business for the Bangladeshi-born owner, who signed a 10-year lease and hopes to open more convenience stores in the future.
The West Glebe Road bridge partially reopened yesterday, though pedestrian and bicycle traffic will have to wait to make use of the bridge.
The bridge was previously in a severely deteriorated state, necessitating partial closures over the years until the bridge fully closed last summer.
A new authority responsible for promoting railways in Virginia said the only real solution to a degraded bridge over King Street is full replacement.
The Virginia Passenger Rail Authority (VPRA) made its recommendation to the Transportation Commission earlier this month. The CSX bridge over King Street is nearly 120 years old and is notorious for causing closures and shutdowns.
For years, local first responders have been dispatched for worrying signs of decay at the CSX bridges over King Street and Commonwealth Avenue. Streets have been closed for emergency fixes and rail debris can regularly be found on the nearby streets and sidewalks. Finally, Mayor Justin Wilson said a new organization could help Alexandria address this problem.
In a newsletter where Wilson also addressed Holmes Run issues, Wilson also said there may be a way of getting the bridges back on track.
After months of being closed, much of West Glebe Road Bridge has finally been torn down ahead of eventual reconstruction.
Demolition started earlier this week and is expected to finish by the week of Sept. 5. Demolition work is expected to continue Monday-Friday from 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
Like a parachute, a bridge is one of those things you want to be able to rely on, but some of the crossings between Alexandria and Arlington have gotten to such a rough shape that one is now closed to vehicles for at least a year.
The poor state of the West Glebe Road bridge is so well known that federal and state officials from different political parties came together to tour the scene and marvel at the disrepair.
The West Glebe Road bridge over Four Mile Run will be closing completely in two weeks, and will remain closed to vehicles for nearly a year.
The circa-1956 bridge connects Arlington and Alexandria near the I-395/S. Glebe Road interchange. It has been deemed “structurally deficient” since 2018. A $10 million project to replace its deck and beams was approved by the Arlington County Board last April as part of a joint project with Alexandria. The project was slated to start this year, but in the meantime engineers have found “continued degradation of the bridge beams.”
The Mount Vernon Avenue bridge is a vital link between Alexandria and Arlington, but it’s in rough shape and in desperate need of a refit.
The Arlington Ridge Road/Mount Vernon Avenue bridge over Four Mile Run in rough shape and this morning (Friday) Senator Mark Warner and local leaders met with engineers to review the state of the bridge and advocate for the bridge to get a significant boost from federal funding. Federal funding for bridge infrastructure is currently in the hands of state leaders who will allocate funding to bridge projects around the state.
It’s been a busy week in Alexandria with City Council coming back into session for the first time in 2022.
With a majority of the Council being new, there are fresh names and perspectives stories about city decision-making. Highlights from this week’s City Council meeting included a first look at plans for the city to — kind of — invest in a luxury hotel and bids to develop broadband internet access citywide.
