Community Corner
Poplar Tree Road Scheduled to Reopen Thursday
Crews complete first half of road-widening project.
Update from the editor: the road opening has now been pushed to Thursday.
Road crews are today tentatively scheduled to reopen a section of Poplar Tree Road, which connects Centreville to Chantilly, as part of a $5 million road-widening project, construction officials said.
The closed portion, which extends from Braddock Ridge Drive to Sully Park Drive, has been widened to four lanes—divided by a median strip—and painted. The reopening is about a week ahead of schedule. When that portion of the road is reopened, crews can start on the second phase of the project, widening the road from Sully Park Drive to Sully Station Drive.
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Once completed, the mile-long project will eliminate one of Centreville’s most troublesome traffic chokepoints by widening to four lanes the heavily traveled roadway that connects Stone Road and Westfield Boulevard. The Poplar Tree logjam has been a commuting headache for years.
Money for the year-long project comes from a 2007 transportation bond issue; local development fees helped pay for about $800,000 in pre-engineering costs. Fairfax County earlier this year awarded the contract for the widening to Tavares Concrete from Lorton.
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Neighbors have voiced concerns that the road is being widened for the benefit of people who do not live in the area, but are just “cut-through” commuters traveling from Route 28 to Prince William County. But Sully District Supervisor Michael Frey has defended the project as
Residents in the area were ambivalent about the road reopening, but they did see how it could benefit Centreville.
“This is an important project,” said Kristin Vaccarino, who was walking down the road Tuesday night while it was still closed. “This road is a major thoroughfare for the community.”
Her mom, Susan, said that the road closure didn’t present problems for residents because most had found alternate routes out of the neighborhood.
Once the project is completed, the road will probably get a name change, to either Stone Road or Westfield Boulevard, to make it easier to navigate through the area, Frey said.
