VDOT: Dale Boulevard to be closed two weeks

By Lillian Kafka

Published: May 15, 2008

The estimated closure time for Dale Boulevard is two weeks or less, according to the Virginia Department of Transportation.

Rain could delay work by crews who are working seven days a week to fill an area washed out by storms early Monday morning.

Dale Boulevard, a four-lane thoroughfare in eastern Prince William County, has been closed in both directions between Mapledale Avenue and Nassau Drive since Monday.

Heavy rains washed out 36 feet of dirt from under the road surface, leaving an inches-thick bridge of asphalt over a muddy canyon.

The National Weather Service issued a flood watch Thursday afternoon in anticipation of overnight rain that could continue today.

In response, VDOT workers shored up the sides of the washout.

Sometime before the storm, a contractor was working at a storm water pond near Mapledale Avenue, said Mike Salmon, VDOT spokesman. The pond empties into a 10-foot pipe that takes water from one side of the road to the other.

That draining water was redirected to a weak area in the soil, Salmon said.

When torrential rains began, the redirected water could have been the cause of the washout, he said.

"They're looking into that as a possibility," he said.

A description of what the contractor was doing at the storm water pond was unavailable on Thursday.

By Thursday afternoon crews excavated an embankment at the washout and placed stones and erosion controls to prevent further degradation of the soil, Salmon said.

Today, crews will continue work, but heavy rains will delay progress, he said.

Otherwise, they are on schedule to reopen Dale Boulevard in about two weeks, he said.

Once the soil is reconstructed and compacted, the road surface can be repaved.

VDOT is working on securing contractors to pave the road, install guardrails and build sidewalks and curbs on the four-lane road.

"They are working sun up to sun down, weather permitting," Salmon said.

Staff writer Lillian Kafka can be reached at 703-878-8065 or .