Five brief updates on the future Richmond Highway widening

The Virginia Department of Transportation’s (VDOT) Richmond Highway Corridor Improvements project between Jeff Todd Way and Sherwood Hall Lane is still a few years’ shy of construction — the tentative start date for phase one construction between Jeff Todd Way and just north of Frye Road is still early 2027 — but preparations continue to take place.

On the MoVe recently got some brief updates on the project from VDOT senior communications specialist Mike Murphy:

1. The final property scheduled for demolition in 2023, the shuttered Shell station at 8851 Richmond Highway, will be demolished by the end of the year.
2. In the first quarter of 2024, demolition crews will remove the building that formerly housed the Mezcalero restaurant at 8368 Richmond Highway.
3. Empty lots where demolitions have taken place will remain vacant until project construction begins.
4. The partial right of way acquisition process is scheduled to begin this winter. Phase one partial acquisitions were originally slated to begin in late summer 2023.
5. Both phases of construction are now fully funded. According to VDOT’s Northern Virginia District Transportation Update from October 2023, the estimated cost for the entire project is $466 million.