It’s the utility work in advance of the widening, said Meredith Martinez Corwin, the Deputy Chief of Staff in the Springfield District supervisor’s office. “For the widening, the current poles all need to be moved because where they are currently would be in the roadway. They expect the utility work to be finished within the next year so that the road widening work can begin,” she said.

In the road construction world, this is called the utility relocation phase but to the homeowners in this area, the work has begun.

The first phase of this project was known as the Old Keene Mill intersection improvements, was completed in November 2021. A second left-turn lane was added to the westbound turning lanes to allow more traffic to head in that direction, another right turn lane to eastbound Old Keene Mill Road was added, the signals were replaced and the pedestrian facilities were improved.

The widening part will occur between Viola Street and Old Keene Mill Road. That portion of the road averages about 19,000 vehicles a day VDOT said. The additional lanes will come with traffic signal upgrades and a shared-use path.

To let everyone know beforehand, VDOT held public information meetings in June 2016, November 2017, and a design public hearing in February 2018.

The whole project is priced at $78.4 million and is financed with federal, state, county and Northern Virginia Transportation Authority funds.