Mulligan Road Expected to Open in 2013

Mount Vernon residents will soon have another way to get to Kingstowne.

Mulligan Road, which will cut through Fort Belvoir starting at Richmond Highway and ending at Telegraph Road, is expected to open in 2013 (or by early 2014 at the latest if there are unexpected construction delays). Currently, the Richmond Highway and Telegraph Road are connected about two miles to the south by the Fairfax County Parkway and about seven miles north via South Kings Highway.

According to the VDOT website, Woodlawn Road and Beulah Street through Fort Belvoir have been closed to public access since Sept. 11, 2001. Mulligan Road is being constructed to alleviate some local traffic resulting from the closure of Woodlawn Road, said Doug Hecox, spokesman for the Federal Highway Administration.

Mulligan Road is a collaborative project between the U.S. Army, Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), Fairfax County, and the Federal Highway Administration.  The $41 million project is being funded by a combination of federal aid, Defense Access Roads and Fairfax County government funds, said Hecox.

When asked if Mulligan Road is expected to help alleviate some of the projected increase in traffic due to the federal Base Realigment and Closure (BRAC) program, Hecox replied, “The project should improve [it] in and around Fort Belvoir.”

Phase 1, which includes construction of a section of Mulligan Road between Telegraph Road and Pole Road, is currently underway. Bidding has begun for Phase 2.  

Phase 2 includes numerous improvements to surrounding roads, including the realignment of the intersection of Mount Vernon Memorial Highway, Old Mill Road, and Route One. Old Mill Road will be widened from two lanes to four lanes between Route One and Pole Road, and Telegraph Road will also be widened to four lanes between Beulah Street and Leaf Road.

Additionally, Wegmans will also widen Beulah Road down to Mulligan Road as part of a development proffer.

Mount Vernon District Supervisor Gerry Hyland called the construction of Mulligan Road “one of the most significant road improvements on the Richmond Highway corridor.”

“With the closing of Woodlawn Road, we definitely needed another way to get to the west, so we pushed for an agreement to build Mulligan Road,” said Hyland.

Hyland added that Woodlawn Plantation had to agree to exchange some of its land in order for this project to occur.

Both Hyland and Lee District Supervisor Jeff McKay agree that once completed, Mulligan Road will make an impact on travel from east to west. 

“When Mulligan Road is completed, it will be a critical link in our transportation network—especially with BRAC implementation just around the corner,” said McKay. “That link has been missing since just after 9/11 when, for security reasons, Woodlawn Road that connected Telegraph Road and Route One through Fort Belvoir was closed.”

“It gives us an alternative to get to the west. More importantly, it gives us another was to get from east to west for residents of the Mount Vernon and Lee districts,” said Hyland. “It also gives us the opportunity to straighten out the intersection of Routes 1 and 235 at Woodlawn where Roy Rogers is, and it will make it work much better.”

For more information about this project, visit the Federal Highway Administration’s website: http://www.efl.fhwa.dot.gov/files/projects/rhtrc/ProjectPhases.pdf