Residents Happy About Idylwood Bridge Opening, But Questions Remain

While politicians and construction workers residents living near the construction site cheered the end of the ruckus.

Premi and Kam Hira, who live on the Falls Church side of the bridge that spans Interstate-495 to Vienna, have endured the clinks and bangs of overnight construction for the last six-months. The couple agreed the opening of the bridge is good for the community -- but at what cost, they asked.

“We’re very pleased they opened the bridge on time,” Kam said Friday after the ribbon cutting ceremony. “But they’ve taken then trees away from us.”

The reconstruction of the bridge, part of the $1.4 billion Capital Beltway HOT Lanes project, started six-months ago and was slated for completion in two-years. Jeff Wagner, spokesman for Fluor-Lane, LLC. – the company responsible for constructing the HOT Lanes project said the Idylwood Road bridge portion of the project cost $2 million. Wagner said the project could only be completed in the short time because they were able to close the bridge off completely to motorist and pedestrian travel. The initial plan was to work on one side of the bridge at a time, allowing travel through one lane.

As delegates and others who came to the ribbon cutting ceremony mingled and marveled at the newly laid concrete, and steel structure, the Hira’s looked at a large area where trees once stood. The area, just adjacent to the foot of the bridge on the Falls Church side, is now a vacant slope of red-tinted dirt and girders where sound walls will be installed.

“Obviously it’s good for the community,” Premi said. “The question is at what cost is this to the community?”

Del. James M. Scott (D-53rd District) said there was some apprehension in the beginning of the project with the construction. He said that has all been laid to rest with the quick completion of the project.

“The bridge makes it possible for people to have access to schools, shopping and the subway on the Falls Church side,” Scott said referring to residents living on the side of the bridge closest to Vienna. “The had to bear with this for six months.”

The first motorist to travel the span of the bridge was Fairfax County Supervisor Linda Smyth. The Providence District representative said her first thought when she heard the project had been completed in more than a year faster than expected was “hallelujah!”

“I really do appreciate how everyone worked with the community during the process,” Smyth said. “It has been a major project for the neighborhoods.”

The major impact of the bridge is how it serves as a connection between two communities that for a half of a year were separated by a busy highway, said Steven Titunik, a spokesman for Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT). In the 1960s when the bridge was originally constructed, Titunik said the area was a traditional suburb with few homes and even more rural land. As times have changed, he said the area has become more urban with more of a need for the amenities of a city.

“Once people start seeing things come out of the ground, they get with it,” Titunik said. “Building the bridge was the right thing to do when you look at the time it took.”