(Updated at 9:25 a.m.) The northbound lanes of Sycamore Street are closed near I-66 and the East Falls Church Metro due to a vehicle collision, authorities said this morning.
Four people were injured in the three-vehicle collision.
It was the second crash at the intersection in nearly two weeks. See a photo of the earlier accident here.
Closed since it was the scene of a “bumper-car graveyard” last night, one lane of the northbound George Washington Parkway has finally reopened near Spout Run.
The road was closed for most of the morning as crews worked to clear snow, fallen trees and abandoned vehicles.
G.W. Parkway drivers spent up to 14 hours in their cars, from yesterday afternoon to early this morning, as fallen trees and collisions blocked the roadway in both directions.
“I have a friend who has been there since 5pm. She says cops are walking up and down, people are huddling together in cars,” a Twitter user told us just before 11:00 last night. There were reports of cars running out of gas and of people simply getting out of their cars and walking.
U.S. Park Police spokesman Sgt. David Schlosser tells WTOP that the Parkway was jammed due to a “cascading effect – crashes, trees coming down, people abandoning their vehicles.”
One woman who had been stuck on the Parkway told NBC Washington that she made it home at 5:30 this morning, after leaving her Crystal City office at 4:45 p.m.
Abandoned cars are being towed to the parking lots at the scenic overlook and Roosevelt Island.
Dr. Gridlock has more information on how to retrieve an abandoned vehicle.
Photo courtesy Steve Buttry.
Update at 3:30 p.m. — The road has reopened.
Wilson Boulevard has been shut down in the area of North Jackson Street and Washington Boulevard in Clarendon.
A vehicle collided with a utility pole, splitting it in half near the Hess gas station. Dominion is on the scene replacing the pole, which has transformers on it, complicating the process.
No word on when the street will reopen.
The westbound lanes of Lee Highway (Old Dominion Drive) have been shut down near North Vermont Street due to an outside gas leak.
The fire department is on the scene of the leak. No word on when the lanes will reopen.
Chain Bridge Road is expected to remain shut down for the next half an hour as firefighters work to rescue a man trapped in a van that knocked over a utility pole.
Initial reports suggest the driver of a delivery van knocked over a utility pole while backing out of a driveway on the 100 block of Chain Bridge Road, just north of Chain Bridge. Live power lines fell on the van, trapping the driver inside.
Firefighters are now working to free the man.
Police have shut down the road between North Glebe Road and the Fairfax County line. The road should open up shortly after the rescue is completed.
Update at 1:30 p.m. — The rescue is complete and power has been shut off to the power lines. A lane closure may remain as Dominion installs a new utility pole.
(Updated at 5:30 p.m.) A 15-year-old boy suffered critical injuries when he was struck by a car on the 4500 block of South Four Mile Run Drive, police said Wednesday evening.
The accident occurred around 3:30 p.m. The driver of the striking vehicle stayed on the scene, according to police spokesperson Det. Crystal Nosal.
Nosal said police are continuing to investigate the accident. As of 5:30 p.m., the westbound lanes of Four Mile Run Drive had reopened, but the eastbound lanes were still closed.
Based on initial reports from the scene, the victim was said to have been bleeding profusely from the head after he was struck by the black Honda heading eastbound on Four Mile Run Drive. The car’s front windshield appeared to have suffered heavy damage as a result of the collision. A parked car also suffered damage to its rear driver’s side window, apparently as a result of the accident.
A shoe lay across the street from where the victim was struck. A black backpack also could be seen near the point of impact.
Police were seen interviewing a group of school-aged children shortly after the accident occurred.
Update at 5:55 p.m. — All lanes of Four Mile Run Drive are now open.
Update at 9:30 p.m. — Wakefield High School principal Dr. Chris Willmore sent the following letter to parents this afternoon.
Dear Wakefield Parents:
I wanted to inform you about an incident that happened this afternoon. While walking home from school, a Wakefield student was seriously injured when he was hit by a car near the 4500 block of Four Mile Run Drive.
The student was transported by ambulance to a nearby hospital with serious injuries. Parents were notified and are at the hospital with the student.
The Arlington Police Department is investigating the cause of the accident.
If you have any questions, please feel free to call me at 703-228-6700.
Sincerely,
Dr. Chris Willmore
Principal
Just as we were receiving notification of a road closure between Fern Street and Grant Street on South 23rd Street near Crystal City, a tipster sent us the photo above with this description:
Good morning — There’s some sort of water problem on 23rd St South near Crystal City, between Fern and Grant, closer to Fern. Water is out on at least that block (I live there and a neighbor has told me hers is out as well). It looks like this utility truck has fallen through the street surface, a sinkhole or something. That could be the cause — either the water main was broken, or it was shut off to make repairs. Picture attached, though it’s not the best angle.
As we reported earlier today, this has been a busy month for water main breaks in Arlington.
Update at 1:15 p.m. — A few Washington Gas employees arrived on scene around 12:30 p.m. to check for a possible gas line rupture. Based on the public works employee lighting up a cigarette about 15 minutes later, it would appear that they gave the all-clear.
As the photos show, this is a relatively minor situation. The public works truck is now parked safely away from the hole, and there’s no water flowing from the apparent water main break. No word yet on when the road may reopen.
Update at 11:05 a.m. — We’re hearing that some traffic lights are coming back online in the area.
Update at 11:30 a.m. — Road closures are being lifted. Dominion spokesperson Le-Ha Anderson says power has been restored to most customers in Rosslyn.
“While we investigate the root cause of the outage, we are rerouting electricity to restore as many customers as possible,” Anderson said. “As of 11:01, we were able to get the lights back on for all but 123 customers.”
Update at 2:00 p.m. — Dominion estimates that service won’t be fully restored until midnight tonight, after underground repairs are completed. Buildings in the 1500 blocks of Clarendon and Wilson Boulevard are still without power, we’re told.
A blown underground transformer in the area of 1515 Clarendon Boulevard has caused traffic lights to go dark and about 1,000 Dominion customers to lose power in the Rosslyn area.
Traffic lights are reportedly out across most of North Lynn Street, and police are now directing traffic in the area. Officers have requested generators for the lights, saying it “could be hours” until power is restored.
A traffic light outage has also been reported at Wilson Boulevard and North Pierce Street, near the fire station, as well as other intersections between Rosslyn and Courthouse.
Police are in the process of shutting down Fort Myer Drive at Lee Highway, as well as most of Nash Street. Traffic coming across the Key Bridge into Arlington will have to head west on Lee Highway, get off at North Scott Street, and backtrack down Wilson Boulevard to get to Rosslyn.
There’s no reliable word yet on when power might be restored.
Reports of isolated pockets of high water and traffic light problems have been trickling in over the past hour as rain continues to fall.
According to scanner traffic, the ramp from westbound Route 50 to westbound Washington Boulevard has been shut down by police due to high water. Likewise, police are checking out a call for high water in the area of North Glebe Road and Chesterbrook Road.
Heavy rain invariably tends to cause problems with traffic lights in the county.
Earlier, it was reported that the lights at the tricky intersection of South Hayes Street and 15th Street were flashing.
Now, police are heading to the equally tricky intersection of Fort Myer Drive and North Lynn Street to direct traffic. Traffic lights are reported to be completely dark in the area. (We’ve moved updates on the power outage in Rosslyn to a separate post.)
Update at 11:25 a.m. — There’s a large pool of standing water on the HOV lanes of I-395 approaching the 14th Street Bridge. Traffic cameras show that it’s in the same spot as the pool of water left by a spring storm, shown in one of the photos below.
The water caused a car to stall out in the left-hand lane. Police are now on the scene
Dominion is holding a public meeting from 5:00 to 8:00 tonight to discuss a major project that will run a new underground transmission line from Pentagon City to Clarendon.
The meeting will be held at the Lyon Park Community Center (414 North Fillmore Street).
Find more information here.
Arlington is still growing, population-wise, and that larger population is requiring more and more electricity to serve its needs.
To help meet demand, Dominion is planning a major project to run a 3.7 mile underground transmission line from Pentagon City to the power substation at 3245 Wilson Boulevard in Clarendon. The project also proposes to construct a new Radnor Heights power substation on the grounds of Ft. Myer.
The project “will support growth in Arlington County,” says Dominion spokesperson Le-Ha Anderson. But progress will come at a cost — burying the line will be an intensive 18 month process that will result in open-cut trenching and street closures along the proposed route.
“Because this is underground, we’re going to have to dig up the roadways,” Anderson said. “We’re going to do everything we can to minimize traffic and community disruption.”
Dominion is holding a public meeting a week from today to provide information about the project. The meeting will take place from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. on Nov. 29 at the Lyon Park Community Center (414 North Fillmore Street). The company held a public meeting for the Ft. Myer community last week.
If all goes as planned, construction will begin in January and end in June 2012. The end result, Anderson says, will be worth the temporary hassle.
“We’re improving service reliability to our customers in the Arlington area,” she said.
Flickr pool photo by Alykat
