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ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The Virginia Railway Express has again rescheduled its King Street bridge closure, the latest in a series of date changes for the same phase of work on the Alexandria Union Station improvements project.
The closure, which VRE previously moved to May 29 through June 2, will now run from 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 28, to 6:30 a.m. Wednesday, June 3 — beginning a day earlier and ending a day later than the schedule announced in mid-May. King Street and Commonwealth Avenue will remain fully open until the closure begins Thursday evening.
During the closure, King Street will be fully closed between Russell Road and Daingerfield Road, with traffic detoured to Duke Street. Commonwealth Avenue will stay open but narrowed to a single lane alternating traffic in both directions, directed by flaggers. Sunset Drive will remain fully open.
For pedestrians, the sidewalk connecting King Street to the Union Station tunnel will be closed on both sides under the bridge for the duration, with detour signage posted. The sidewalk along Commonwealth Avenue will stay open. The stairs from the station's east platform to King Street remain closed until construction is complete.
The work is the second of three weekend windows VRE scheduled this spring and summer to install bridge spans. The first ran May 1-4. A window originally set for May 15-18 was pushed to late May, and a third is tentatively planned for mid- to late June.
The bridge replacements are part of the broader Alexandria Station Improvements Project, a roughly $136 million effort by VRE and the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority to reconstruct the station's platforms, replace the pedestrian tunnel and stairs, add ADA-compliant elevators, and remove the existing at-grade crossing where passengers cross active tracks between platforms. The contractor received its notice to proceed in December 2025 and has 756 days to reach substantial completion, putting the target in early 2028.
More information is available on VRE's website, and questions can be directed to the project team at AlexandriaStationImprovements@vre.org.
