Campus Drive Construction Update – January 2013
The Campus Drive project construction will begin the first week in January 2013, with clearing and grubbing in several areas on East Campus. These areas include around the Patriots Village lot, along Ox Road (Route 123), around the RAC, and along Patriot Circle across from the RAC. From January 7 – January 11, 2013 between the hours of 7:00 A.M.-5:00 P.M., Patriot Circle was completely closed to vehicle and pedestrian traffic between the traffic circle at Mason Pond Drive and Lot I. The Mason Shuttle stop at the RAC was closed January 7-11 due to the street closure.
Once clearing and grubbing is complete in these areas, the Route 123 detour (see image below) will be built to allow for the construction of bridges that will span the new Campus Drive. The detour will carry the existing four lanes of traffic along Route 123 between University Drive and Mason Pond Drive; expect traffic delays along this corridor.
On January 3, 2013, the pedestrian crosswalk across Route 123 halfway between Braddock Road and University Drive was closed. All pedestrians will need to cross Route 123 at either Braddock Road or University Drive to get back and forth between the East and West Campuses. The Fairfax County bicycle/pedestrian path along the east side of Route 123 will be detoured (see image below) through campus at Mason Pond Drive, using Patriot Circle to head back toward University Drive.
Starting on January 2, 2013, the north side (the right side) of the Patriots Village lot closed for the remainder of 2013. The south end of the parking lot may close during certain hours because of construction activity.
As the Campus Drive project progresses, there will be lane and parking closures at times along Patriot Circle, Mason Pond Drive, Braddock Road, and Rapidan River Road, and in the West Campus lot. E-mail updates will be sent periodically but check the Building Patriot Pride website and Parking and Transportation’s Facebook and Twitter pages for updates. Campus Drive from Braddock Road to Patriot Circle is scheduled to open in December 2013, with the project completely finished in July 2014.
For more information about the Campus Drive project (previously known as West Campus Connector), please review this Campus Drive Advisory Group Briefing.
This week I noticed a number of construction vehicles at the West Campus parking lot. They’re taking down a number of trees along the perimeter. What is the plan? Is it to pave a larger lot for parking?
Hello Diane,
Yes, this process is to make way for the construction of Campus Drive, which will go from the West Campus parking lot entrance to Patriot Circle near the RAC. For more information, please review this Campus Drive (formerly named West Campus Connector) presentation.
The traffic restriction for both pedestrians and vehicles is often one of the downsides to construction. Fortunately, the project won’t take long and students will be using the new facilities in no time!
During community meetings, I believe that you stated an underpass, not a bridge, would be built to traverse Rt123. This would have had a significantly smaller visual impact to the neighborhood. When and why was the plan changed?
Hello Shelly,
Thank you for your question about the bridge for Campus Drive. As was discussed at the community meeting, the bridge the post is talking about is to hold up the lanes on Route 123 to allow for Campus Drive lanes to underpass through to the main part of campus. So, nothing has changed with plans. This is illustrated here: Campus Drive & Route 123 Bridge.
Please let us know if you have further questions.
I am resident of the Brecon Ridge neighborhood. It looks like the plans are to extend Prestwick Drive across Braddock Road and add a light at the intersection. I am curious about the changes, but missed the informational meetings. It will certainly be nice to have a light at Prestwick. I feel the students from Trinity & GMU exiting that parking lot are causing a lot of confusion and some potentially dangerous situations at the intersection. It was my thought that perhaps, for now, they should only be permitted to turn right (west) onto Braddock road and then make a U-turn, if necessary, at the light at Trinity.
I have a few other questions:
• Will the Campus Drive underpass allow access to route 123 N and or South, or does it strictly transport from the East / West campus?
• Is the county still intending to do any modifications of the 123/Braddock intersection? I have seen some plans of a overpass there with several options for managing that traffic. Has that been scrapped?
• How will the West Campus entrance look when finished? Is there any artistic rendering we could see? It would be great to visualize the topography and landscaping.
• I saw that the master plan has some research buildings which would be maybe where the current West campus parking lot is. Is that still in the plans? I dont see that on the current map. (I am looking at http://facilities.gmu.edu/projects/WCampConn/index.htm#description)
Hello Samantha,
Thank you for posting your concern and questions about the Campus Drive project. Here are answers to your questions.
Please let me know if you have any additional questions of comments.
Oops. I just followed the link under your first response above, which gave a much better visual of the underpass, etc. which seems to answer the first question.