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A roughly one-mile stretch of the Washington & Old Dominion Trail is temporarily closed near Dunn Loring as crews install a new electric transmission line over two major highways.
The closure extends from Gallows Road in Dunn Loring to Shreve Road in Idylwood and will remain in place through Friday, July 11. Dominion Energy is directing pedestrians and cyclists onto a 2.7-mile detour using Gallows Road, Route 29 and Shreve Road.
Crews are pulling electrical wires over Interstate 66 and Interstate 495 as part of the second phase of Dominion’s Clark-Idylwood reconductor project.
The work will continue to affect trail traffic after the full closure ends. From July 11 through Aug. 1, flaggers will manage pedestrians and cyclists and may stop trail traffic for periods of up to 15 minutes.
Dominion is replacing about four miles of existing wires between the Clark substation at 375 Center Street and the Idylwood substation at 7701 Shreve Road. The upgraded line will carry 230 kilovolts. The project’s first phase centered on Vienna and also temporarily closed part of the trail.
Dominion has said the upgrade is necessary to meet the area’s growing demand for electricity. But the project drew criticism after the utility removed trees along portions of the trail in Vienna and Dunn Loring, saying they posed a potential threat to the electrical grid.
NOVA Parks, which owns the W&OD Trail, said the removals went beyond what was necessary. The park authority also criticized Dominion for failing to seek input in advance or create a plan to restore the cleared areas.
Following pressure from Northern Virginia leaders, Dominion agreed to reconsider how it manages vegetation near power lines along the W&OD corridor. The company nevertheless proceeded with tree clearing already underway in the Clark-Idylwood project area, completing that work in Vienna and Dunn Loring during the spring.
NOVA Parks and Dominion have said they intend to keep discussing a new agreement for managing trees and other vegetation along the trail. In early June, however, Dominion announced plans to remove 129 additional trees, including 58 in the Herndon area and others in Loudoun and Arlington counties. That work was scheduled to begin June 16 and take three to four weeks.
Dominion Energy communications manager Aisha Khan said tree work connected to the Clark-Idylwood project has been completed. Crews also trimmed trees along Shreve Road to support the temporary detour at NOVA Parks’ request.
Khan said previously announced corrective tree maintenance in Fairfax and Loudoun counties was expected to finish this week. Work in Arlington remained on hold pending a permit to remove four dead trees, with NOVA Parks and county forestry officials notified.
The second phase is the final stage of the Clark-Idylwood project, which remains scheduled for completion this summer.