Emergency repairs to the concrete pavement in the southbound lanes of the George Washington Memorial Parkway near Waynewood Boulevard will take place the weekend of March 31 instead of March 24 due to the inclement weather forecast this weekend, according to the National Park Service (NPS).
Repairs to the northbound lanes were completed last weekend. The emergency repairs in both directions — which involve removing old road surface and pouring new concrete — are designed to eliminate the remainders of bumps in the pavement that have reportedly caused damage to vehicles and near-accidents as drivers run over or suddenly brake for them. The bump in the southbound lane before Waynewood Boulevard had been particularly vexing for drivers, some of whom observed that it had surfaced in past years as well.
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In early February, Charles Cuvelier, superintendent of the George Washington Memorial Parkway, informed residents of the Mount Vernon area that NPS was engaging the Federal Highway Administration to secure an emergency contract to conduct repairs. Weeks later, drivers reported that the southbound hump appeared to have been shaved down, and in early March, a contract was awarded for replacing the slabs that were causing the problem.
The emergency repairs are only a temporary fix, said NPS spokesperson Mark Maloy.
“A more permanent repair to this area, and an ability to understand the cause of the bump, will occur when a full restoration of the south Parkway occurs,” he said.
NPS presently is conducting an Environmental Assessment for that improvement project, which would impact the stretch of road from Old Town Alexandria to George Washington’s Mount Vernon, and will present it to community members later this spring.
Maloy said to expect single lane closures during the southbound Parkway repairs later this month.
