Mulligan Road Progresses

With the beginning of construction on the new Wegman's grocery store at the intersection of Beluah Road and Telegraph Road, many people in the 44th District have been asking me about what the status is on Mulligan Road.

What's Mulligan Road?

When I was a kid, Fort Belvoir was an open base and you could drive on Woodlawn Road and over to Beulah Road to cut across Fort Belvoir. After 9-11, Fort Belvoir changed their security policy and shut the base down. With the opening of the Fairfax County Parkway, there are no only East-West crossings from Mount Vernon to Kingstowne until you reach Lockheed Boulevard. This VDOT page describes it briefly.

The alleviate this problem, a $41 project to expand Mulligan Road is being constructed across Fort Belvoir. It is being financed by the Federal and State Government and Fairfax County. You can see where it is going in on this map below.
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The right of way has been cleared for some time now, but construction really seems to be lagging. Last week, I spoke with Fairfax County transportation staff and there are five things holding up completion:

• Lack of complete funding (until just recently)
• Need to acquire right-of-way to complete improvements (land on north edge of Woodlawn Estate)
• Need to complete Telegraph Road intersection
• Utility relocations are not complete
• Remaining bridge work needs to be completed

There a little bit of discussion in this transportation briefing document. Wegman's is also going to widen Telegraph Road from Beulah Road down to the Mulligan Road intersection as part of a development proffer.

The Mulligan Road Phase II Project was posted for bid presolicitation on February 17, 2011. It was posted for bids on March 16, 2011.

The staff advises that this project is slated for completion in Fall, 2012. When complete, this will bring some significant relief for Mount Vernon residents - especially people who live south of Little Hunting Creek.

P.S. Roy Rogers will not be displaced.