Demolitions continue in preparation for Richmond Highway widening

A construction crew tore down the building formerly housing Mount Vernon Auto Repair at 8249 Richmond Highway Oct. 10. The razing was part of the Virginia Department of Transportation’s (VDOT) planned demolition of several properties this year in preparation for the Richmond Highway Corridor Improvements project between Jeff Todd Way and Sherwood Hall Lane.

In recent months, a former 7-Eleven at 8010 Richmond Highway and a couple of smaller residential buildings have quietly disappeared from the highway. A shuttered Shell station at 8851 Richmond Highway remains standing for now, though it was on the list of VDOT’s planned demolitions for 2023.

In total, VDOT completed 21 whole parcel acquisitions for the three-mile highway widening project, which is slated to begin phase one construction between Jeff Todd Way and just north of Frye Road in early 2027. The plan is to widen Richmond Highway from four to six lanes, provide separate cycle tracks and ADA accessible sidewalks on both sides of the road, and reserve the median width necessary to accommodate Fairfax County's future Richmond Highway Bus Rapid Transit system.

According to VDOT, the whole property acquisitions include some commercial properties already vacated by business owners (e.g., Mezcalero) and others that are still occupied until existing lease agreements expire.

On the MoVe will provide an update on VDOT’s partial property acquisitions between Jeff Todd Way and Sherwood Hall Lane later this year.