Politics & Government

Major Downtown Development: No Overhead Power Lines

Undergrounding power lines at Chain Bridge and Old Dominion

Imagine the major intersection in downtown McLean with no utility poles and no overhead wires.

Yes it's difficult. But in the past three years, all 43 landowners at the intersection of Old Dominion Drive and Chain Bridge Road have been charmed, cajoled and persuaded into signing agreements that will lead to undergrounding all the overhead wires.

This $3.3 million construction project should start next year.

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“When I took office, I made the utility undergrounding project a major priority,” said Dranesville Supervisor John Foust. “I know the task of obtaining all the easements was very difficult," said Foust, who took office in 2007 and is running for re-election this year.

"I greatly appreciate the efforts of my chief of staff, Jane Edmondson, and the MRC, in particular, Bill Sudow, Dan DuVal, Virginia Foley and the late Lane Gabeler. I also wish to thank all the property owners who granted easements at no cost to the project. As a result of their combined efforts, McLean residents will see a greatly improved intersection in the not too distant future,” Foust said.

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Why do you care about overhead wires in downtown McLean?

Dan Duval, owner of Salona, and former president of the McLean Revitalization Corporation, who has worked tirelessly on this project, gave two answers: more reliable power service downtown and appearance.

"Reliabiity is important," he said. "We seem to be susceptible to small power interruptions.

"It's hard to have a revitalized, pleasant looking downtown when you have all of these overhead wires strung in front of the building and along the roads," Duval said.

The project required a total of 43 easements for Dominion Virginia Power, Cox Cable and Verizon from 14 property owners.  The scope of the project is along Old Dominion from the Shell gas station to Center Street (beyond the PNC Bank), along on the southeast side of Chain Bridge Road from just beyond McLean Cleaners to Laughlin Avenue (at the corner where Chicken Out and Capitol One Bank are located) and from Boston Market to just beyond Starbucks and 7-Eleven on the northwest side. The undergrounding project will tie in with the undergrounding along Lowell and Emerson avenues that was completed as part of the Palladium project, according to an announcement from Foust's office.

The genesis of the undergrounding project dates back to 1988 when county voters approved commercial revitalization bonds that included $2 million for McLean, the announcement said.

When Foust took office in January 2008, none of the easements needed for the utility undergrounding project had been obtained. In order to move the project forward, Foust committed staff from his office to work with McLean Revitalization Corporation members in a renewed effort to secure the easements. The MRC is made up of downtown property owners and local residents.

During that effort, a number of the properties changed hands, and the project team had to regroup on several occasions. Original designs as to where poles and transformers would be located had to be discarded because of concerns raised by property owners, the Foust announcement explained.

Now that the design has been completed and easements obtained, engineering plans will be submitted to VDOT for approval. “It is our goal to have shovels in the ground by June 2012,” said Bill Sudow, president of the MRC, in the Foust statement.

In addition to the county’s $2 million in bond funds, the MRC will contribute nearly $1.3 million to the project. The MRC received $1 million from the developers of the Palladium in 2002.

That money has been held in escrow pending a decision by the MRC as to how the funds would be invested in McLean revitalization. In 2009, the MRC informed the county that it intended to commit the funds to the undergrounding project. In addition, as part of its redevelopment, Exxon contributed $350,000 toward future undergrounding in downtown McLean, and that money will also be used for the undergrounding project, according to the announcement.


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