Park Service Awards $161M Contract For GW Parkway Upgrade Project

NORTHERN VIRGINIA — The National Park Service, together with the Federal Highway Administration, awarded a $161 million contract on Tuesday to upgrade the northern part of the George Washington Memorial Parkway from Spout Run Parkway to Interstate 495.

The rehabilitation project will include replacing the asphalt pavement, repairing stormwater management systems along the 7.5-mile stretch of the parkway, strengthening roadside barriers and building new concrete curbs, upgrading parts of two scenic overlooks, and lengthening entrance and exit lanes at interchanges.

The federal agencies awarded the contract to the team of Fort Myer Construction Corp. of Washington, D.C. and WSP USA of New York City. The contract award marks the start of the design phase of the project. Construction is tentatively scheduled to begin in 2023 and be completed in 2025.

“This project will improve the driving experience, safety, and water drainage while retaining and reviving the historic beauty and significance of the parkway — including opening scenic views to Washington, D.C.,” Charles Cuvelier, George Washington Memorial Parkway superintendent, said in a statement Tuesday.

The George Washington Parkway is used by roughly 70,000 vehicles each day. The $161 million contract is the largest infrastructure investment funded by the Great American Outdoors Act, a bill signed into law in August 2020.

The National Park Service completed construction of the northern part of the parkway in 1962. The parkway, from Spout Run Parkway in Arlington County to I-495 in Fairfax County, is a four-lane divided highway. More than 26 million vehicles travel on the northern section of the parkway each year.

In 2018, the National Park Service completed an environmental assessment of the northern section of the parkway and determined the rehabilitation project would have no significant impact on the environment.

The project will include the reconfiguration of the existing roadway geometry at the Route 123 interchange to improve safety, and the rehabilitation of the interchange at the Central Intelligence Agency entrance. The project also is expected to help prevent emergency sinkhole events and increase driver and passenger safety on this stretch of road that is a designated evacuation route for the nation’s capital.

In 2019, two large sinkholes caused major traffic issues along the northern section of the George Washington Parkway.