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ALEXANDRIA, Va — The first weekend of King Street closures tied to Virginia Railway Express bridge work has stretched into the workweek, with city officials announcing late Monday that key intersections in the heart of the closure zone will not reopen until Tuesday afternoon.
In an advisory issued at 11:15 p.m. Monday, the city said the project contractor notified officials of an "unforeseen construction schedule modification" that will keep the intersections at King Street, Russell Road and Commonwealth Avenue closed until early Tuesday afternoon, May 5. The closures had originally been scheduled to lift by 10 p.m. Monday.
The work is part of VRE's Alexandria Station and Bridge Improvements Project, which is replacing aging rail bridge spans over King Street and Commonwealth Avenue. VRE has said the upgrades are needed to improve safety, reduce long-term maintenance and bolster service reliability.
The city did not provide a specific reopening time or detail what prompted the extension. The Alexandria Brief has reached out to VRE for additional information.
Two more weekend shutdowns remain on the schedule. According to the city, King Street will close again May 15-18 and May 29-June 1, with each closure running from 7 a.m. Friday through 10 p.m. Monday. Those start times differ from VRE's earlier announcement, which set the closures to begin at 7 p.m. Friday. It was not immediately clear whether the schedule had been formally changed.
Detour patterns remain the same. King Street is fully closed between Russell Road and Daingerfield Road, with traffic routed to Duke Street. Commonwealth Avenue typically remains open with a single alternating lane guided by flaggers, though the city noted that the current intersection closure at King, Russell and Commonwealth is an exception. Sunset Drive remains open to local traffic only.
Pedestrians continue to face changes as well. The sidewalk linking King Street to the station tunnel is closed on both sides under the bridge, and posted detour signs are guiding foot traffic. Beginning May 15, the stairs from the east platform to King Street will also be closed.
Metro service is not affected, and city officials said overnight noise was expected to remain very limited.
More information is available on the VRE website. Project-specific questions can be directed to AlexandriaStationImprovements@vre.org.
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