Repairs now complete on 74-year-old Sugarland Run Bridge in Herndon

Repairs and rehabilitation is now complete on the 74-year-old Sugarland Run Bridge in Herndon.

Construction began last September on the westbound Route 7 (Leesburg Pike) portion of the bridge, which resulted in several lane closures on weekends and overnights in October. The project was completed last month.

The work included bridge pier and abutment repairs, the building of a new concrete bridge deck, guardrail upgrades, and new curbs and gutters. The total cost of the project was $4.4 million, paid for by a combination of state and federal funds.

Work and repairs were needed to address continued deterioration on the bridge’s underside, broken steel reinforcement strands, and debris clogging the drain pipes. Overall, the condition of the bridge deck and beams prior to the work was considered “poor” and “structurally deficient,” according to the staff report.

This section of Route 7 averages about 59,000 vehicles a day in combined eastbound and westbound travel.

The bridge was widened in 1981 and, again, in 2000.

Initially, VDOT planned to further widen the bridge in this project and extend the acceleration lane from the Fairfax County on-ramp to Dranesville Road, but those elements were cut from the project.

Those additional components would have brought the total cost of the project to about $11 million and were “not completed due to funding constraints,” a Virginia Department of Transportation confirms to Reston Now.

In the end, the project actually was finished ahead of schedule and under budget compared to estimates from June 2019. It was originally scheduled to be completed in the fall 2021 and cost about $6 million.

TGIF! Check out these pics of the newly rehabbed Rt 7 WB bridge over Sugarland Run in Herndon, including a new bridge deck and pier/abutment repairs. Way to go, project team! More info: https://t.co/5Qxli2EuXq pic.twitter.com/Xd890BbAJp

— VDOT Northern VA (@VaDOTNOVA) May 14, 2021

An effort by Fairfax County and the Town of Herndon to restore Sugarland Run Stream, the body of water that runs under the bridge, is currently in the works.

Set to be completed in early 2022, the long-running project will stabilize eroding stream banks, re-plant vegetation, and install brush mattresses.