Evergreen Mill Road widening project advances

By Audrey Carpenter

The Evergreen Mills Road widening project is advancing, with the design phase expected to be completed and land acquisition to begin this winter.

The widening will encompass approximately 1.3 miles of Evergreen Mill Road from the Heritage High School entrance, south of Battlefield Parkway, to South King Street/Route 15. The existing two-lane road will be widened to a four-lane street with sidewalk on one side and a shared use path on the other side. Preliminary construction has begun on utility relocations, curb, gutter, and storm drainage, according to Scott Parker, senior planning project manager with the Town of Leesburg.

This widening is intended to help improve the traffic flow on Evergreen Mill Road, especially at the traffic signals, and to improve pedestrian connectivity on the roadway.

There are 37 individual parcels that have been identified where land rights may be required. Some landowners within the project limits own multiple parcels, such as Loudoun County Public Schools, said Karin Franklin, senior engineer with the Capital Projects department for the Town of Leesburg.

“The project is entering the last phase of design where land rights are highly scrutinized, and adjustments based on design and utility relocation are made. This project has funding from the Virginia Department of Transportation and there are a number of formal steps that must occur, one of which is public outreach and another is authorization to acquire land rights,” she said.

The Town has held the virtual public meetings at the concept phase and then at the 30% and 60% design stages to inform the residents about the project, design, and potential impacts to adjacent properties, Franklin explained.

Another public meeting will be held in the first quarter of 2024.

“No formal paperwork has been sent to any of the property owners at this stage and can’t be sent until we receive the authorization to begin land acquisition from the Virginia Department of Transportation as part of our funding agreement,” she said.

The Town is coordinating its construction efforts with the adjacent Meadowbrook Farms commercial center development, which will include a road to be built from Marathon Drive to Evergreen Mills Road with a retail and commercial development hub in the middle with a roundabout. The concept is to make the commercial hub a walkable, pedestrian friendly area, similar to One Loudoun.

“As with any capital construction project that is adjacent to an active land development project, whether in design or construction phases, the Town does coordinate with that developer so that frontage improvements along the roadways that the Town has in design with a capital project are done once and are not installed and then torn out for the final alignment. This coordination is critical for these larger projects,” Franklin said.

The Meadowbrook Farm property consists of approximately 23.56 acres of vacant land located at the intersection of South King Street (Route 15) and Evergreen Mill Road. Last December, the Leesburg Town Council approved 34,000 square feet of commercial use, including retail, office and dining as part of the commercial development phase.

A continuing care senior living facility and a daycare are slated to be built in the open field that fronts King Street.

In addition to the commercial center, 65 townhomes will also be built. “It’s my understanding that the land owner has not yet selected a developer for those townhomes,” Parker said. Van Metre, which built the single family homes at Meadowbrook Farms, has completed its build phase and is no longer involved in any additional development.

For more information on the road widening, visit:
https://www.leesburgva.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/37768/637849479165300000.