In today’s US construction news, learn about there are now construction projects to restore the George Washington Memorial Parkway (GWMP) between Spout Run Parkway and I-495. On the other hand, there is a shortage of housing of all types. The fact that new home development declined precipitously during the Great Recession and remained low for years afterward is one of the main causes.
News and Impacts of North Parkway Construction
Original Source: North Parkway Construction, News, and Impacts
Between I-495 and Spout Run Parkway, the George Washington Memorial Parkway (GWMP) is being rehabilitated. Drivers and parkgoers will be affected by construction during renovation. Current Construction shows construction updates. Project completion is expected in late 2025.
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Visit our public meeting webpage to watch informational meeting recordings.
Parkway Rehabilitation Progress
Crews make continuous rehabilitation progress. In Fall 2024:
Driver safety has improved with 33% of the roadway replaced.
75% of the guardwall is rebuilt or replaced, improving motorist safety.
The drainage work is 72% complete, minimizing erosion and sediment runoff.
Repairing 92% of outfalls improves drainage to surrounding streams.
Bridge repairs are 65% complete, restoring aging infrastructure.
Winter Weather Plans
Weather could change the reversible lane timetable or close the parkway. Consider the following and plan accordingly. The northern parkway section:
If snow, freezing rain, sleet, or ice is expected, will close. Road closure will occur four hours before storm start. Drivers must find alternatives.
Reopening the northern parkway may be delayed while staff clear snow and treat other parkways and areas. Closure and reopening information will be emailed to GWMP Rehabilitation project news subscribers.
Under Construction (Updated November 2024)
Route 123 from I-495
The NPS is continuing the North Parkway Rehabilitation Project. Three lanes including a reversible lane between I-495 and Route 123 switched from northbound to southbound parkway lanes in January 2024. The NPS expects this three-lane traffic layout until late 2025. The northbound parkway’s roadway, curb, drainage, and masonry guard wall are being rebuilt through 2024.
Configure Lanes
The temporary lane remains in the parkway middle between Route 123 and I-495. This temporary lane always heads north and must be used by Maryland drivers.
Southbound/Center Lane: The southbound lane nearest to the median (or center lane) reverses direction during morning and evening peak hours. This lane is closed on weekends and holidays except from peak hour.
The southbound lane close to the outside shoulder lane always goes south.
Reversible Lane Plan
I-495 to Route 123 Interchange is three lanes. Schedule for reversible lanes:
Closure of I-495 North Exit
The northbound GWMP exit ramp to I-495 north toward Maryland will be closed for curb demolition, reconstruction, and asphalt paving from 7 a.m. Thursday, November 14 to 7 p.m. Monday, November 25. Work and ramp closures depend on weather. Any modifications to the closure schedule will be updated here.
To reach I-495 north towards Maryland, motorists heading northbound must leave at Route 123 and follow diversion signage.
Route 123 to I-495 Northbound Parkway Closure to Allow I-495 Ramp to Virginia Construction
From November 18th to 20th, VDOT 495 NEXT Project construction will disrupt George Washington Memorial Parkway-I-495 ramps toward Virginia. On November 19th and 20th, the North Parkway between Route 123 and I-495 will be closed from 10:00 PM to 5:00 AM for this work. According to the diversion plan, motorists should leave Route 123 and follow indications to I-495.
Route 123 Interchange Ramp Closures/Detours
Weather permitting, Route 123 intersection renovation and weekend ramp closures resume until Fall. Installation of drainage, curbs, permanent asphalt pavement, and temporary widening need ramp closures. Closure details include detours.
The ramp from northbound Route 123 to southbound GWMP will be closed until early December, weather permitting, for excavation, curb work, highway destruction, and asphalt paving. Route 123 drivers must follow detour signs to northbound GWMP and around Turkey Run loop to reach southbound GWMP during the closure.
Outlook for Route 123-Sprout Run Parkway Construction
Between Route 123 junction and Windy Run Bridge, one northbound lane will be restricted until mid-December. Once roadwork between Route 123 and Spout Run Parkway is finished, both northbound lanes will reopen. The North Parkway Rehabilitation Project’s next phase will transfer traffic to the northbound lanes and close the right southbound lane in mid-December for work. Long-term southbound lane closures will continue beyond 2025. This parkway stretch will not have reversible lanes. Before each traffic shift, the NPS will provide details. Work depends on weather and may change.
June – Mid-December 2024 Lane Configuration AM Rush Hour: 5:30–9:30 a.m. Two lanes will take traffic southbound toward D.C. and one northbound toward Maryland/Virginia.
One lane per direction will be open at all other times.
Crews will close both northbound lanes on weekends for drainage, utility, and asphalt paving.
Crews will close both northbound lanes on weekends for drainage, utility, and roadwork. Weather conditions may change all closures. NPS emails will provide more details before each closure and diversion, and updated timetables will appear below.
The November Northbound Closure Schedule:
Third Weekend: Saturday, November 16 from 7 a.m. to Sunday, November 17 at 5 p.m.
Fourth Weekend: 7 a.m. Saturday, November 23–5 p.m. Sunday, November 24.
Detour: Northbound GWMP vehicles must exit Spout Run Parkway and follow detour signs to Route 123 as depicted on the map. GWMP will keep one southbound lane open.
Route 123 to Windy Run Bridge
The left northbound lane is restricted until mid-December for rehabilitation:
Drainage installation
Treating cement and installing asphalt
Installation of electrical conduit
North Donaldson Overlook parking lot lane striping continues. Fort Marcy and the North Donaldson Overlook are inaccessible from 9 to 5:30 a.m. until Fall 2024.
Windy Run Bridge-Sprout Run Parkway
The left northbound lane is closed for rehabilitation:
Work on the bridge continues:
Turkey Run, Donaldson Run, Glebe Road, Windy Run, Dead Run, Pimmit Run, Gulf Branch, Route 123 junction, Spout Run Arch Bridges: Bridge surface and subsurface repairs.
The containment platform at Turkey Run loop has minimal clearance from the bridge.
As construction proceeds, temporary barriers are in place at Pimmit Run, Glebe Road, Gulf Branch, Donaldson Run, Dead Run, Windy Run, and Turkey Run bridges with narrower lanes. No more traffic delays are expected.
Construction Zone Safety
Drive slowly and carefully through parkway work zones.
Traffic signs provide updated information.
A 40 MPH speed limit applies from the I-495 interchange to Spout Run Parkway to protect construction workers and vehicles. The speed limit will be enforced throughout the project.
Drivers should seek alternative routes and allow enough time to avoid northern parkway traffic congestion.
Remember that the parkway is always closed to cars exceeding 10,000 pounds.
The Potomac Heritage National Trail will be partially closed until late fall 2024.
Under the Glebe Road Bridge, the Potomac Heritage National Trail is blocked for safety. Crews constructed containment platforms under the bridge for blasting and painting, reducing pedestrian trail space. Since there is no safe diversion, the trail is partially closed until late fall 2024. Trail entrances and exits have signs. Click here for trail closure info.
North Parkway Construction Signage
Deportations Could Worsen the US Housing Shortage of Millions
Original Source: The US is short millions of housing units. Mass deportations could make it worse.
One question is how deporting immigrants, one of Donald Trump’s campaign promises, will effect the housing market.
All housing is scarce. New home development plummeted during the Great Recession and remained low for years afterward.
Removing immigrants in large numbers would destroy the construction industry and have terrible social and emotional effects, academics and advocates believe.
Very few industry participants have publicly discussed the potential ramifications. USA TODAY polled America’s biggest builders.
NVR, KB Home, Taylor Morrison, and Century Communities declined comment. No answer from D.R. Horton, Lennar, PulteGroup, Meritage, or LGI Homes.
Clayton Homes submitted the inquiry to the industry body MHI. In an email, CEO Dr. Lesli Gooch said, “MHI is not concerned with President-elect Trump’s plan to enforce the nation’s immigration law. Our companies and workers follow the law, and we are excited to help solve the housing supply crisis.”
Also speaking was the National Association of Home Builders. “Mass deportation will hurt the economy. Chief advocacy officer Ken Wingert said the building and housing sector will likely have the most impact.
We need a comprehensive immigration strategy and reform and hope Congress will address it in January “Wingert added. “We support adding workers to the workforce to ease the housing supply deficit.”
Home builders have long listed the need for more construction personnel. According to a recent research, “the average annual number of occupational openings in construction totals approximately 723,000 a year.”
It is reported that immigrants make almost 25% of the construction workforce but roughly one-third of construction trade positions. Wingert said the house builders organization could not verify how many workers are legally present.
Legal vs. illegal
Queens College economics professor Francesc Ortega has examined that subject for years. Ortega estimates that 15% of construction workers are undocumented using U.S. Census Bureau statistics.
Having so many immigrants, documented or not, has kept construction labor prices cheap compared to a predominantly native-born workforce. Foreign-born workers earned less than native-born workers in 2020, according to the Labor Department. In all industries, immigrants earned 12% less than native-born workers, but in construction, they earned 24% less.
Ortega’s USA TODAY investigation found that undocumented construction workers earned 36% less per hour in 2023.
“An immigration system that’s humane and that is based on the rule of law, and we (would) also have an economic system that is not built on the back of exploited workers,” said Amica Center for Immigrant Rights executive director Michael Lukens.
Lukens says firms can exploit vulnerable workers because of immigration fears. “It is sad that an industry that is built on immigrants is not willing to stand up for immigrants,” he told the paper. “I also think it’s not surprising when your motive is profit, that you’re not intrinsically opposed to a populist message that helps you raise profit.”
Deportations will worsen the housing problem.
Though huge deportations seem to raise expenses, Ortega and other academics found otherwise.
Ortega stated, “In an industry like construction, documented and undocumented workers don’t really do the same jobs.” “They complement rather than replace each other.”
Even if construction companies had open positions because their immigrant workers had been deported (or fled before facing such a scenario), native-born workers would not likely switch from working in sales to doing manual labor on job sites, he said.
“People cannot be taken and dropped. Nor will that happen, Ortega said.
In a country that needs millions of homes, per projections, removing builders will worsen the issue.
“Mass deportations would cripple the construction and housing market,” Lukens. “It would cripple agriculture. Very expensive and would devastate the economy. Both economically and socially, it’s unacceptable.”
In a country that needs millions of homes, per projections, removing builders will worsen the issue.
“Mass deportations would cripple the construction and housing market,” Lukens. “It would cripple agriculture. Very expensive and would devastate the economy. Both economically and socially, it’s unacceptable.”
Summary of today’s construction news
To sum it up, until early December, weather allowing, the ramp connecting northbound Route 123 to southbound GWMP will be closed for asphalt paving, excavation, curb work, and road demolition. In order to access southbound GWMP during the closure, drivers on Route 123 will have to follow diversion signage to northbound GWMP and around Turkey Run loop.
On the other hand, the need for additional construction workers has long been recognized by the Home Builders Association. “The average annual number of occupational openings in construction totals approximately 723,000 a year,” the association stated in a recent report.
