Fairfax County Parkway - Route Description

Route Description

The Fairfax County Parkway and its branch to Franconia generally have interchanges at major roads and traffic signals at less major roads. Along the main parkway (SR 286), there are 17 full or partial interchanges and 39 signals, with eleven of those signals at interchanges; the Franconia–Springfield Parkway (SR 289) has five interchanges and only three signals. In addition, there are many unsignalized intersections along the road, but none of these are driveways, since the road is limited-access. The road generally has a speed limit of 50 mph (80 km/h).

The south end of SR 286 begins at an intersection with US 1 at Accotink and heads northwest through Fort Belvoir, leaving the fort at a diamond interchange with Telegraph Road (SR 611), crossing I-95 at a full cloverleaf (exit 166), crossing over Fullerton Road, passing through interchanges with Boudinot Drive and Barta Road, and turning west through West Springfield at Rolling Road. This portion replaced the existing Backlick Road (SR 617), which continues north from the I-95 interchange and connects to the Franconia–Springfield Parkway (SR 289). During most of the parkway's life, the portion between Fullerton Road and SR 289 had not been constructed due to delay caused by environmental issues, including an oil spill along its path through the Fort Belvoir Proving Ground. Since approval in 2008, construction began in 2009 and the new portion was opened in late 2010.

SR 289 begins at an intersection with Beulah Street (SR 613), with Manchester Boulevard/Kingstowne Boulevard continuing east to Van Dorn Street. The road heads west, with interchanges at the Franconia–Springfield Metro/VRE station, Frontier Drive, the Shirley Highway reversible HOV lanes, and Backlick Road (SR 617). At the Rolling Road (SR 638) interchange, SR 289 ends and merges with SR 286. Rolling Road south of the interchange was rebuilt to carry SR 286, and a large loop ramp is designed for northbound SR 286 traffic. Beyond this interchange, SR 286 has two diamond interchanges, with Sydenstricker Road/Gambrill Road (SR 640) and Pohick Road (SR 641)/Hooes Road (SR 636), before a stretch of several miles with only at-grade intersections. From Backlick Road (SR 617) west to this SR 636 interchange, the parkway paralleled and replaced the existing Hooes Road (SR 636).

From Hooes and Pohick Roads (SR 636/SR 641) northwest to the interchange with Ox Road (SR 123), SR 286 is a surface road, built directly on the former Pohick Road. The parkway beyond Ox Road was built on a new alignment, and has a much smaller number of intersections. Just past Ox Road, SR 286 passes under Clara Barton Drive, a minor residential street. It intersects the west end of Burke Center Parkway (SR 643), crosses over the Virginia Railway Express Manassas Line and Fairfax Station Road (SR 660), and intersects several other roads before a freeway section begins at a folded diamond interchange with Braddock Road (SR 620). A complicated three-level diamond takes SR 286 over Lee Highway (US 29) at the south end of West Ox Road (SR 608), and SR 286 crosses I-66 at exit 55, a cloverleaf. After passing over Fair Lakes Circle (SR 7701), the freeway ends at Fair Lakes Parkway (SR 7700); the next interchange, at Lee Jackson Memorial Highway (US 50), is a partial cloverleaf with two signals on SR 286. A current project is underway to create a grade-separated interchange with Fair Lakes Parkway and Monument Drive, eliminating two at-grade signals. The frontage roads were open in late 2011 in order to temporarily route the traffic through the construction zone while the bridges are built over the cross streets and ramps constructed. The bridges opened for two lanes in each direction in mid-November 2012.

From US 50 to Franklin Farm Road, the parkway curves northwest to reach the Outer Beltway right-of-way. This straight path is followed until Baron Cameron Avenue (SR 606), and includes an overpass at Pinecrest Road in the Fox Mill Estates neighborhood. After crossing the Dulles Access Road (SR 267), SR 286 follows the east border of Herndon, with interchanges at Sunset Hills Road (SR 675) and Baron Cameron Avenue (SR 606). The parkway leaves the straight Outer Beltway alignment just beyond Baron Cameron Avenue, curving northwest and north to end at a diamond interchange with Leesburg Pike (SR 7), at which the traffic signals are on SR 286. Algonkian Parkway continues north as a four-lane local road, eventually curving back west and south to SR 7 just east of SR 28.

SR 286 is also known as the John F. (Jack) Herrity Parkway, designated by the Virginia General Assembly in 1995, and the Trooper Charles Mark Cosslett Memorial Highway, designated in 2010 as the final link through Fort Belvoir. In 2001 SR 289 was named the Joseph V. Gartlan, Jr., Parkway. Jack Herrity served for 12 years on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, and was instrumental in getting the road built; Joseph V. Gartlan, Jr. was a state senator who served Fairfax County for 28 years. These names are ceremonial, and are rarely used by the public.

The Fairfax County Parkway Trail is a multi-use trail that runs alongside the Franconia–Springfield Parkway and Fairfax County Parkway from Beulah Street in Springfield to SR 7, mostly as a sidepath, but sometimes using adjacent frontage roads and old alignments of the roads that the parkway replaced. It intersects the Washington and Old Dominion Trail north of Sunset Hills Road at Herndon, near that trail's mile 19.