Long Bridge Drive Reconstruction Costs Increase — Again

The reconstruction of a half-mile stretch of Long Bridge Drive — once part of Old Jefferson Davis Highway — have increased a second time and Arlington County officials say utility companies are to blame.

The Arlington County Board approved increasing its contract to Donohoe Construction Co. by $750,000 this weekend after officials said utility companies had delayed the project by not burying utility lines on time.

The county made the same argument in December 2011 before increasing the Donohoe contract by $979,500. So what started as a near-$26 million contract has morphed over the years into a $27.8 million expense.

The Long Bridge Drive construction is designed to improve access to Long Bridge Park and improve connections between Crystal City, Pentagon City and Washington, D.C. The project, expected to be completed by the end of the year, has included widening the road to include parking and bike lanes, landscaped medians, street trees and better street lights.

"The reconstruction of Long Bridge Drive was not your average road construction project," according to a county news release. "The new roadway conceals an enormous amount of underground cables and connections that serve Arlington and the Washington, DC metropolitan area, and support major communication networks throughout the East Coast. Reconstruction of the road required relocating these cables and connections, a time-consuming and technically complex process."

Arlington notified Dominion Virginia Power and Verizon in August 2008 that they would need to bury their electric and communications cables, according to county documents.

The county awarded the Long Bridge Park construction contract to Donohoe in November 2009. The road construction portion accounts for about $7.5 million of that contract.

“This project has been complex and challenging, requiring the County to coordinate with utility companies and involving some frustrating delays," Arlington County Board Chairman Walter Tejada said in a statement. "We are all eager to see it completed as soon as possible.”